Broken Arrow
by Alatus
Summary: Moments after holy was unleashed, the airship crashed on the surface of the planet. Half buried in debris, Cloud dreams, and Aeris's voice calls out to him. She and he have one more mission to fulfill, as the world is not yet safe. Revived chapter7 Jan08!
1. Ch1 A Crash

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the Final Fantasy 7 related takes a deep breath characters, world, settings, bosses, monsters, items, weapons, materia, limit breaks, towns, dungeons, villains, plot devices, or copyrights. All of that is the property of Squaresoft. The only thing I can lay claim to is the plot, but then again, the Greeks probably beat me to that as well.

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He became dully aware of something cold dripping on his face. He struggled to wake himself enough to find out what it was. A sudden stab of pain shot through his body causing him to gasp for air. He gritted his teeth against the pain, trying not to cry out.

Thoughts ran madly through his mind "What's going on? Where am I? How did I get here? What happened?" He tried to move his arms but found he didn't have the strength to lift them. He lay there struggle to stay conscious trying to remember how he got there. "Where am I?" he asked again. He then concentrated on trying to open his eyes. His eyelids felt heavy beyond belief and he was only able to open them to slits for a few seconds before they slid shut again. He puzzled over what he had seen above him: a dark mass of what looked like metal pressing down on him. He winced as he felt a plate sink deeper into his right arm. He tried to cry out but the sound was choked up in his throat and couldn't escape. The metal plate dug deeper into his arm. Darkness fell again.

_He opened his eyes to see a dark, purple-red sky over him. The meteor was still falling, tumbling towards the planet. His gaze fell away from the strange sky to see a dark haired girl standing beside him on the deck. She turned to look at him, her wine red eyes searching his, a frightened smile upon her face. Then in a blink, she disappeared. A pair of green-blue eyes appeared in her place. Snake like they were, and they glowed with a violent power. He backed away, realizing too late that the deck was floating in the sky. He tumbled off the edge, hurtling towards the ground. He braced for the impact, but it never came, as a sudden whirlwind of flower petals whipped past him, stopping his fall completely. He lay on a thick bed of petals. Like colourful rain, they drifted down, and covered him completely._

He felt more light headed as he became aware of the world again. As his senses returned, he felt a warm liquid below him. "Blood." He began to panic, his heart hammering against his chest, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He felt the blackness start to close in. "I have to stay awake," he thought. "I must endure. I have to." He resisted against its pull, struggling to keep awake. "How did I get here?" He tried in vain to distract himself from the constant pain surging through him. "We... were... we were... at the north crater. Sephiroth was defeated and... and..." a flare of pain caused him to wince, crying out in a silent scream as the metal sank deeper into his arm and pressed down around him. "I'm going to die here." The realization of this sent a shock through his system. "I'm dying." His mind was blank for a while, stuck on the words and their meaning. "Tifa..." His heart sank at her name. "She'll cry over me. Won't be able to accept... my death after all this. She won't believe that I'm gone. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Tifa. If only I could have seen your face again. Just once. I wish I could see you again." He began to tremble. A plate shifted, sliding free to crash against his chest. He gritted his teeth, sweat beading on his brow, the darkness leaping forward to consume him. He struggled against it, but to no avail.

_He was gently falling through a storm of petals that danced around him, fluttering to a silent tune. He reached out to touch one that floated by, only to have it dart out of reach. He glanced down to see where he was heading. A figure stood below dressed in pink. He caught his breath, staring at the figure on the ground. She smiled up at him, raising her hands up to him._

_"Aeris..." he breathed, reaching out, clasping her fingers in his own. She pulled him slowly to the ground till his feet had touched down. "I..."_

_She let go of his hands shaking her head. "You don' t have to say anything. I've come to help you."_

_"I don't deserve your help," he replied, ashamed, looking away from her._

"Cloud!"

_He jumped at the new voice, swirling around, searching for the sound. "Who?"_

_Aeris watched him calmly. "That was Tifa. She must have found you. Cloud, you're dying. You can't do this to Tifa. I can help."_

_"Help?"_

_"I can help save your life. But you have to let me help you."_

_He hesitated, his eyes fell to the flowers at his feet._

"Cloud hold on."

_"Aeris... can you really save my life?"_

_"I can."_

_"I'm sorry, Aeris, that I couldn't save you. But here you are, rescuing me. It... it doesn't seem fair."_

_She smiled sadly at him. "Nothing in the world is fair."_

_"I don' t deserve this. Not from you."_

_"What about Tifa? You wished to see her again."_

_"I did."_

_"Then I'll start." Cloud nodded silently. She smiled again, and closed her eyes, whispering a prayer. The wind picked up, sending petals flying. The petals whirled about him, blocking out all traces of light._

His senses rushed back causing him to grimace. He could hear two people above him talking and moving. He struggled to open his eyes. Above him were dark storm clouds with Tifa kneeling just to one side. Rain fell relentlessly, smacking him with its cold drops. He still felt woozy and didn't have the strength to speak. Tifa looked down to see his dull blue eyes staring back.

"Hold on Cloud," she said, trying to put on a brave face. "Cid should be back soon with supplies." She gently gripped his left hand. His eyes slid shut, his breathing coming in ragged gasps. "Please just a little longer."

"I'll try," he thought. He could still feel the tug of blackness threatening to pull him away, but past that he could feel something else. It puzzled him as he felt a strange warmth spreading out through his body. It started in his right arm working its way out. He heard the sound of approaching feet, then Tifa speaking quickly to the other. There voices shifting in and out of his hearing. The strange warmth had completely enwrapped him. He could feel his right arm slowly healing. "...Aeris, she really..." He felt someone pull him up into a sitting position.

"Cloud? Can you hear me?" asked Tifa. "I need you to drink this, all right?" He felt a jug pressed against his lips. He struggled to swallow its content. The thick, bitter liquid sloshed through his mouth and down his throat. Already the pain began to lessen. He slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times to get them to focus.

"Tifa," he murmured looking at her. She was holding the empty flask in her one hand while still supporting him. She looked tired and her hair had been soaked by the rain. "W-what happened?"

She took a deep breath trying to calm herself down. "Do you remember seeing the lifestream rising from the ground to help holy? Well it knocked out the airship's power causing it to crash."

"Cid mustn't be to happy," commented Cloud.

Tifa smiled. "No he isn't. Longest list of curses I've ever heard."

"What about the others? Barret, Yuffie, Vincent, Cait Sith, Red, how are they?"

"So far we've found Barret and Red. Cid's gone to help them. As for Yuffie, Vincent, and Cait Sith, we haven't found them yet."

"I should help," he said, moving to get up.

Tifa placed a hand on his shoulder. "Oh no you don't. You've lost a pile of blood and you know perfectly well potions don't help with that. Now we've set up a shelter over there. I want you to go and get some rest, all right?" Cloud sighed, nodding his head. "Good." She helped Cloud to his feet and took him over to the tent they had set up. Red was resting inside the tent. Cloud sat against a pile of rubble that made up one of the walls. "I'm going back out to look for the others. Try and get some rest." With that she turned and wandered off.

Cloud watched as she disappeared into field of debris. Rain crashed down around him, filling the air with a thick mist. He turned his gaze away looking down at his right arm. It was completely healed now and didn't have a scratch on it. He flexed the muscles finding them stiff.

"Well," he thought to himself, "that's to be expected." He turned his gaze out on the rain. "Thank you, Aeris. If it weren't for you, I'd be dead now... thanks. I hope you're looking out for the others as well." Lightening flashed through the sky, followed by a crack of thunder that shook the ground. "Storms getting worse." The winds were picking up, causing nearby trees to thrash the air and the pouring rain to blow wildly about. "I can't stand just sitting here." He lurched to his feet and stepped out into the storm. He staggered through the rubble looking for his friends. He climbed up a pile to get a better view. The wind whipped at him throwing rain and blond hair into his eyes. He squinted out into the storm, spotting Tifa and Cid pulling Yuffie out of the debris. Barret was off farther to the left hurrying over to help. Cloud caught a flicker of red in the corner of his eye. He turned in time to see a red cloaked figure disappearing into the fog. "... Vincent."

"... Cloud..."

He jumped, looking around for the whispering voice that had spoken. His gaze fell on Tifa who was running up the pile towards him. "Cloud! What the heck are you doing up here?" she demanded.

"I wanted to help, so I thought I could see someone from up here."

"Well Cid just found Yuffie down there. As soon as we find Vincent we've got to find shelter."

"I saw him walk off that way."

"Then... I guess we're finished here."

Cloud nodded silently and followed Tifa down to the tent. As they reached the bottom of the mound, Cloud stumbled, falling to the ground. Tifa assisted him to his feet.

"You all right?" she asked.

"I just felt really dizzy there for a moment."

"That's what you get for walking around like that," scolded Tifa. "Here I'll help you." She pulled his arms over her shoulders and supported him the rest of the way.

They reached the tent to find Barret was there helping Red. "Now where to?" asked Barret as they approached. Cloud turned to look at Tifa.

"Do you know where we are exactly?" he asked.

"We're somewhere outside of Kalm," answered Tifa. "We'll head there."

Cid showed up a few moments later with Yuffie hanging onto him.

"Ugh," she moaned.

"Wha's wrong with her?" asked Barret.

"The wuss's still airsick," replied Cid

"Never again!" whimpered Yuffie. "I'm never _ever_ going to ride an airship again."

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My first chapter of my first Fanfiction! Yippie! I'm soo proud. wipes away a tear I need a celebratory cookie.


	2. Ch2 Memories

The group arrived in Kalm just before the last traces of light were swallowed by the clouds. They rented several rooms at the inn and retired for the night. Cloud stood at his window, staring out at the storm. His keen ears picked up the sound of someone stopping outside his door.

"Come in," he called, glancing away from the window. The digital clock sitting beside his bed read 2:00 AM. The door opened and Tifa's head popped in. She slid into the room, closing the door behind her.

"I just came to make sure you're all right," she stammered.

He moved away from the window. "Well, I still feel light headed," he admitted. "What about you? You were running around making sure everyone was all right."

"I'm fine," she replied. Cloud looked at her suspiciously. "Really. I just..." she trailed off, casting her eyes down at the carpet.

"Just what?" asked Cloud kindly.

"I've been thinking," she answered shortly.

"About what?"

"Well," she hesitated, but continued on, "meteor's finally gone, along with Sephiroth. The planet's safe and there's nothing more we need to do. I guess I feel like... like... oh, I don't know." She paused, gathering her thoughts. "Everyone's going to start heading their separate ways, back to their families and homes. And..." she broke off again, her gaze rooted to the floor.

"We don't have a place to go," finished Cloud quietly. Tifa looked up at him. "I've been thinking the same thing. Nibelheim doesn't feel like home anymore."

"And Midgar was hit pretty badly," added Tifa. "I hope Reeve's all right."

"What should we do about Cait Sith?" asked Cloud.

"Yuffie found a few pieces of him," she said sadly. "He was completely destroyed in the crash."

"We were lucky no one was killed." Tifa nodded, stifling a yawn. "But anyway, you look exhausted. Go get some rest. We'll decide where to go tomorrow."

"Yah, goodnight."

"Night, Tifa."

She turned and left the room, trying to make as little sound as possible. Cloud stood there for a few more minutes, thinking, before he turned out the lights. He flopped down on the bed and soon fell asleep.

_He stood in the center of a lake, the body of the flower girl in his arms. He slowly lowered her into the water, gazing at her face one last time. Her eyes were shut, never to open again. With great reluctance he let her go, watching as she slowly sank away. Tears blurred his vision as he watched her descend into the depths. A soft chuckle rang in the air. He looked up and saw the lake was now in the middle of Aeris's church. And there she sat, on the edge of the water, a large smile spread across her face, and with a laugh in her voice, she asked him,"What are you doing, silly?" Cloud was speechless for a moment._

_"... Aeris?" was all he managed to say._

_"Who else?" _

_"But you... what? How is this possible?"_

_"You're dreaming."_

_He tried to take a step towards her, but something was holding onto his leg. He looked down. Beneath the calm surface of the pool, a murky shape had grasped his ankle. Slowly, its strong grip began pulling him under._

_"Aeris, help!" Cloud cried, thrashing at the water._

_She shook her head. "If you're looking for me, this is where I'll be."_

_With that, the dark form pulled him under._

Cloud woke with a start, thrashing at his bed sheet. Taking slow, deep breaths, he sat up, pushing the blanket aside.

"Just a dream," he thought. "But Aeris... could she really be... there?" Cloud glanced up at the clock on his desk. 6:00 AM, the glowing red digits informed him. He sighed and got out of bed, knowing it was pointless to try and sleep. He got dressed and made his leisurely way down to the restaurant. He was surprised to see Cid there, sipping a cup of coffee. Cloud sat himself on the other side of the table.

"Morn'en," greeted Cid, putting the cup down.

Cloud glanced around. "You the only one up?"

"No, not really," replied Cid. "Barret and Red are gone already. Left messages saying they were sorry to run, but they had important things to do."

Cloud nodded, gazing absently at the coffee cup. "What about you?" he asked, looking up again at Cid. "You have any plans?"

"Yah," replied Cid, "I'm going to start heading back to Rocket Town soon. What about you?"

"I was thinking of heading to Midgar for a bit," answered Cloud. "I want to take care of a few things. After that, I'm not sure." There was a long silence. Cloud stared at the table.

Cid took the final sip of his coffee, then spoke, "I should get going." He placed some gil beside the cup, stood up, and started to walk off. "Oh, and Cloud," he said, glancing back over his shoulder, "keep your spiky butt out of trouble."

"Very funny," Cloud replied in mock annoyance.

"Hey!" cried Yuffie running over. "You weren't going to leave without handing over your materia, were you?" Cloud noticed Cid stiffen a little.

"N-no. Of course not, you little brat. Now why would I do that?"

"A deal's a deal! Hand'em over!" she laughed. Cid sighed, pulling a few spheres from his pockets. Yuffie looked at them with disappointment. "That's all?"

"Yup," replied Cid. "The rest were lost in the crash."

Yuffie then turned to Cloud. "Your turn."

"I don't have any," he replied. "Sorry."

"Whaa!" cried Yuffie. "That's not fair!" She glanced around the room. "Where's everyone else?"

"They high tailed it out of here," replied Cid. "So you won't get your grubby little fingers on 'em."

Yuffie let out a wail. "Now I've got to go track them down!" She sighed heavily. "See ya later, Cloud. Hey Cid, don't go lighting yourself on fire with one of those cigerettes. You'll launch yourself into orbit!" Yuffie grinned as she ducked Cid's swing. "Bye, bye!" she cried with a wave, and ran out the door. Cid shook his head and left the restaurant, leaving Cloud sitting alone at the table.

It was around eight thirty when Tifa appeared with a plate of eggs and toast. She smiled and sat down across from him.

"Good morning," he said.

"Morning," she replied, picking a slice of toast off the plate. "Have the others left already?"

"Afraid so. Just you and me now."

She was silent for a moment, gnawing on her bit of bread. "Any idea where we're heading?"

"Well," he hesitated, looking down at his own empty plate, "I was thinking of heading to Midgar first."

"What are we doing there?"

Cloud's cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "I just wanted to visit Aeris's church," he answered quietly.

"You mean the one where you met her, right? I've never been there."

"I hope meteor didn't damage it too much."

"Well, as soon as I'm finished here, let's start out."

After leaving the inn, they stopped at the market to resupply. Cloud bought himself a new sword at the armory and several materia at the jeweler's. Tifa picked up medicine at the pharmacy. The price of everything was through the roof.

"Well, the world's not over, is it? People are wanting stuff again," explained one shopkeeper. "Man's gotta make a living."

Having stocked up on items, they made their way back past the inn and out into the fields. It was already noon by the time their short walk to Midgar had begun. The city had been completely evacuated a few days before. Cloud sighed, standing at the edge of a small cliff, staring at the ruins from across a barren plain. Something about this sight stirred up a memory, half buried in the recesses of his mind. He frowned.

"You all right?" Tifa asked.

He glanced around him, a puzzled expression on his face. "This spot seems familiar," he said in a distant voice. Tifa took a few steps towards him.

"Well, we passed this way when we left Midgar going after Sephiroth."

Cloud shook his head. "No... it's not that." The wind ruffled his hair making him shiver. A sudden bout of dizziness caught Cloud by surprise, causing him to stumble backwards. Tifa grabbed him before he fell, and helped him sit down. She favoured Cloud with a look of concern. "I'm all right now, thanks Tifa."

"Let's rest here for a bit. You're still recovering from that crash you know." Cloud nodded, studying his surroundings.

"Why?" he thought to himself. "Why does this place seem so familiar? Something... happened here." Then it hit him. He took a sharp intake of air. He quickly stood up, moving away from the spot.

"Cloud!" called Tifa, running after him. He stopped a few meters away, shaking slightly. He had his back to her. She lightly placed a hand on his shoulder. He stiffened with her touch. Tifa moved around to see his face. She was surprised to see tears in his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"He died there," whispered Cloud. "I just remembered."

"What? Who died there?" asked Tifa, confused.

"Zack," was all he answered.

Tifa stood silently, stunned for a few moments, before gently pulling his arm. "Come on, let's go," she said softly. Cloud followed her slowly, staring at the ground, his mind miles away. He still had gaps in his memory, mostly in the years he had spent trying to join SOLDIER, and the five years after Nibelheim burned.

"I can't remember much about him," thought Cloud sadly. "He's dead and all I recall is his name and rank. We were close friends, he was always looking out for me... is it better not to remember someone who's dead? Is it truly less painful to know nothing, remember nothing at all about him?" He tossed this question back and forth through his mind.

"Cloud?" Tifa ventured after a while. He glanced up at her, his face expressionless. "We're almost there." He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "You still want to do this?"

"Yah, I do," replied Cloud. "Let's go." He lead the way as they entered Midgar's slums. Tifa walked beside him, gazing around at the abandoned buildings and, here and there, a large fragment of plate that had fallen to the ground. It sent a shiver down her spine to see the city quiet and completely empty. They made their way through the debris towards Sector 5. "I hope it's still standing. Meteor could have taken it out though."

"Well, the plate over sector five's still there," Tifa observed reassuringly. "That's a good sign." A few minutes later the small church came into view. "This is where you met Aeris, huh? You must have given her quite a scare falling through the roof like that."

Cloud smiled, thinking back to the time. "Yah, I think I landed right on top of her."

"I'm surprised she was still in one piece!" teased Tifa. She reached out a hand to pull the door open. Cloud watched her, holding his breath. The door creaked open and they walked inside. The church was just the way Cloud had remembered it. The smells of old wood and flowers wafted through the nave. He glanced around, but to his dismay, the room was empty.

"I guess," he thought sadly, "it was just a dream." He began walking down the aisle,towards the front of the church. Tifa followed closely behind, admiring the stain glass windows. Miraculously, all of them had survived the storm. "The flowers... they're doing well," Cloud remarked. He stopped by the last row of pews, staring down at the brightly coloured blossoms.

There was a shocked gasp from Tifa. Cloud swung around to look at her. She was rooted to the spot, staring at something. She stuttered, trying to speak, but only managed to point with a shaking hand. He hesitated, slowly turning his blue eyes in the direction of Tifa's gaze. His mouth dropped open, but no sound escaped him. He could only stand and stare. His mind was buzzing, desparately trying to figure out how this was even possible. There, just to the left of the bed of flowers, asleep on a bench, was a girl all dressed in pink, long, flowing brown hair draped across her shoulders.

"... Aeris..." breathed Cloud.

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Done chapter 2! Hurrah! Sorry it took so long, my editor was having a field day with all the errors. o I've got about six chapter written so far, and I'm waiting around on my lazy editor to do something about them.

But, never the less, I have completed another chapter and am now gladly excepting reviews (cough) hint, hint (cough).

And thank you, Meralhi for the big cookie I'm going to enjoy it, yay! (starts munching on cookies)


	3. Ch3 A Journey

She opened her green eyes, looking up at the two faces above her. She smiled sweetly as she sat up.

"Hello again," she said happily. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" Tifa and Cloud just stood, staring dumb struck at her. Aeris chuckled softly. She stood up and stretched her arms. "I'm not a ghost, if that's what you're thinking."

"You're... alive?" Tifa stammered. "But... how?"

Aeris giggled, answering, "The planet granted me life again. Said my journey wasn't finished yet. Let me tell you, I'm so glad to be back. So what have I missed while I was gone?"

"I can't believe this," murmured Tifa, flopping down on the pew.

"Am I dreaming?" whispered Cloud.

Aeris glanced from one to the other. "Oh, get over it! I'm alive! See? Living and breathing." She looked over to Cloud. "It's so nice to see you two again." Cloud gave a simple nod. "Oh? You're being awfully quiet. How are you doing?"

"Fine," squeaked Cloud. Aeris blinked a few times, looking at him with surprise. Cloud turned away, his cheeks turning pink.

A large smile appeared on her face. "You've found yourself. I'm glad."

"So am I," he replied.

"What's new? Did I miss anything?" asked Aeris again, looking over at Tifa and Cloud.

"Well," answered Tifa, still trying to collect her thoughts. "We defeated Sephiroth and Meteor is gone. Cloud got his memories back... and we're finally done our quest."

"Wow, sounds like you've been busy," Aeris said with amazement.

"Aeris, does anyone know you're alive?" asked Cloud.

She sighed, kicking the floor boards with her boot. "No, only you two. When I revived I was in a lake." Cloud turned pale. "I wanted to find you guys, but I didn't know where you'd be, so I came here."

"I see," replied Cloud. "The others will be glad to hear you're alive."

Aeris shifted nervously. "About that..." she hesitated, looking at the ground. "You see, I'm in the middle of... something and I didn't want to... uh, well, get anyone involved."

"In what?" asked Cloud.

Aeris shook her head. "I can't say. I've already told you too much. I just wanted to see you again and well, now that I have, I should get going." She made a move to go, but Tifa grabbed hold of her.

"Aeris, just wait a minute!" exclaimed Tifa. "You can't do this to us. You just show up out of the blue, say you're 'in the middle of something big' and then just leave us hanging! You can't seriously believe we'll take this." Aeris looked at Tifa, silently debating with herself. "Aeris, please, we're your friends."

"All right," sighed Aeris. She slowly sat down on the edge of the flower bed. "Well you see, since I died, something strange has been brewing. The planet has lost complete control of the weapons. The planet doesn't know what's going on, but it thinks this has something to do with the white and black materia." She paused, examining their reactions. Tifa's mouth hung slightly open, her eyes wide with surprise. Cloud was frowning, deep in thought. "The planet brought me back to life to find the black and white materia and destroy them. But you see, I don't know where the black materia is, and a few of the weapons are starting to suspect that something's up." She sighed softly, closing her eyes. A heavy silence filled the air.

"...Aeris," began Cloud slowly, still trying to puzzle this out. "You're saying the weapons are acting up, and they're interested in stopping you from getting the materia, right?"

"That's right," answered Aeris. "I've already gotten the white materia. Now all I need to find is the black."

Cloud hesitated, glancing at Tifa. "About that..." he trailed off, at a loss for words.

"You see," said Tifa, trying to help explain, "after you... died... we headed up north after Sephiroth. We got up to the North Crater and well... uh..."

"To put it simply, the materia was lost, there, in the crater," finished Cloud.

"Lost? How?" Aeris asked, curious.

Cloud shifted his weight, feeling uncomfortable about the subject. "Well, uh, Sephiroth took the black materia to the crater. He summoned Meteor and... the place collapsed..." his frown deepened as he struggled to remember what had happened. "...he still had it... right in his hands... I don't think it fell in the lifestream." He was silent for a while as he searched his memories. "Yah, it's probably still there."

"Then that's where I'll start," Aeris said to herself. She stood up again. "I'll be going now." She turned and walked away, passing between stone columns as she headed for the church's door. A memory stirred to life in Cloud's mind.

_He stood between rows of trees in a strange and luminescent forest. Aeris was before him, her usual smile broad upon her face. "Then," she said, "I'll be going now. I'll come back when it's all over." _

"No..." breathed Cloud. "Not again." He called out after her, "Wait! Aeris, hold on!" She stopped, looking back at him. "I want to help. You've never been in the Northern Crater. It's dangerous there. Besides, I know the lay out. I have a fairly good chance of finding the Black materia."

"Hey don't forget about me," piped up Tifa. "I know the place as well. You two won't last a minute against the monsters there without me."

Aeris was silent for a while. "I can't ask you to do this for me," she said.

"You're not asking," replied Tifa, cracking a grin. "Besides, there's no way we'd let a friend go into danger by themselves. You've got no say in the matter, we're coming. Right, Cloud?"

"Right," he agreed.

Aeris gazed in wonder at the two determined faces. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you, so much."

Cloud grinned sheepishly. "No problem. Shall we go?"

"Where to now?" asked Tifa as they made their way towards the door.

"Well," answered Cloud, "first we'll have to get to Junon. From there we can get on a boat heading north."

"The fastest way to get to Junon would be by Chocobo," added Tifa. "It shouldn't be too hard to catch a couple around here."

"Those birds are so cute. This is going to be great," laughed Aeris happily.

Soon after leaving the ruins of Midgar, they caught three Chocobos to take them to Junon.

"Tell me of your adventures," said Aeris after a few miles of traveling. "You said that you followed him up north."

"Well," began Tifa. "There's not much to tell. We failed to stop him from summoning Meteor. The spell probably caused the cave in. We managed to escape, except for Cloud. He fell into the lifestream and was swept away to Mideel."

"You fell into the lifestream?" Aeris called after Cloud, surprise in her voice.

"Yah," he answered quietly, staring at a wall of the cave they were passing through. "It wasn't much fun. I ended up with a severe case of mako poisoning. I'm lucky to even be alive. According to Tifa, I was completely out of it. But thanks to her, I finally figured out who I was." Tifa blushed, smiling shyly at Cloud.

Aeris watched Tifa from the corner of an eye. "Then what happened?"

"Basically, we then went and finished what we set out to do," Cloud replied. "We killed Sephiroth, who was holding holy back. With his death, your spell was free to stop meteor."

"It was a close call though," added Tifa. "Just look at Midgar, it got hit pretty bad." A somber silence fell between the three, each lost in thought. The Chocobos plodded along, feet clicking against the rocky floor, sending echoes along the passage. Tifa glanced up to see the cave exit was before them. She squinted as their Chocobos stepped out into the sunshine. Ahead of them was a great gray cloud, rising from a seaside cliff. Beneath it, she could make out the shapes of buildings. "Hey, look! We're almost there."

It wasn't long before they stood in Junon's harbor, overlooking the ocean. Cloud was off seeking a boat that would give them passage. Aeris and Tifa sat quietly, watching people walk about the port.

"It seems you and Cloud have gotten close while I was gone," Aeris said after a while. Tifa blushed at the remark. "Are you two officially a couple now?"

"... No, I don't think so," stammered Tifa, her face reddening.

"I see," replied Aeris. "So he's still up for grabs then?"

"What!" cried Tifa. Aeris chucked softly. "... T-that's not right!"

"I'm kidding," laughed Aeris. "You should lighten up."

"Didn't sound like you were kidding," muttered Tifa, her cheeks now a bright crimson.

"Oh, don't be like that Tifa," said Aeris in a half sulk. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right, no need to apologize."

"So, he is up for grabs?" she teased with a grin.

"Knock it off!" Tifa said, making a half hearted swipe at Aeris. Aeris ducked, giggling.

"Missed!" she laughed, spitting out her tongue. Tifa rolled her eyes and placed her chin in one of her gloved hands. A silence fell between them again, as the two stared out at the sea. "How's everyone doing?" asked Aeris, breaking the stillness. "I haven't seen them in a while."

"They're doing well, as far as I know," answered Tifa. "We've each gone our separate ways now, all spread out across the world. It's kinda sad really."

"Do you have plans to meet up every now and then?" asked Aeris.

"Not at the moment," sighed Tifa. "I think we're all trying to recover now. You know, get back to sort of normal lives."

"What are your plans?"

Tifa shook her head. "I don't know. I don't have anywhere to go or family to see. For now, I'm just happy traveling with Cloud." Aeris nodded in response.

"Hey!" shouted Cloud. The two looked up to see him approaching. "I found a boat headed north that'll take us. It's leaving soon, so we should hurry to get on board." Cloud led them back the way he'd come, stopping before a large steel ship moored to the docks. The hull, while battered and stained with rust, had a sturdy look to it. They walked up the gang plank and onto the deck, where a man with short black hair and a large gray trench coat greeted them.

"Welcome aboard the SS Metou, I'm your captain, Hilarus," he said with a large, friendly smile. "We'll be departing around midnight when we've finished stowing our cargo. The Metou is easy to navigate. The cafeteria is below, on the first deck, near the front of the ship. You just go in through that door there, down the stairs, and head up the hall till the end. Your room is the door on the left by the cafeteria. The washrooms are to the right. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask. Oh, and I'll have to ask you not to go below the first deck, since that's where the engines are. Now, I think that's all, so enjoy your stay. If you'll excuse me, I have duties to attend to." With a quick salute, he swiftly made for the bridge of the ship.

Cloud yawned and stretched. "I think I'm going to take a nap. What about you two?"

"I'm going to get something to eat," replied Tifa.

"I think I'll stay out here a while," answered Aeris. She wandered over to the railing and stood leaning against it, idly watching the waves. Cloud followed Tifa below deck and down stairs to the end of the corridor.

"See you later," he said, opening the door to their room. Tifa nodded sheepishly and slipped into the cafeteria. Cloud gave her retreating back a puzzled look before closing the metal door. He turned to survey the room. It was a small compartment with three bunk beds on one side. He undid his sword sheath and set it against the wall. Sitting on the edge of the bottom bunk, he kicked off his shoes. He lay down on the mattress and stared at the bunk above him. "What a day," he thought to himself. "I just finished saving the world. Now, here I am, planning to do it again." A small smile crept onto his face. "Man, the planet ought to owe me one by now." He rolled over to face the wall, closing his eyes. "I can't believe Aeris is alive..." ...was his last conscious thought before he fell asleep.

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Yay! Chapter 3 is finally up! (Dives into the cookie jar) Mwahaaa! The cookies are all mine!

Big thanks to Goddamtea, Anthiena, and Admiral Andalite for the reviews! (Head starts to swell with all the complements) I love hearing feed back on my work, good or bad. I'm being very careful to keep close to the character designs, it's a tricky process though.

I hoping to get the next chapter up before the end of the month and will be nagging my editor to keep up (evil grin). This chapter felt a lot shorter for some reason. Well, the next one's going to have some action in it, till then! (Pulls on a snorkel mask and disappears into the sea of cookies)


	4. Ch4 Waves

_Cloud stood in the center of the lake, his gaze fixed on the glass surface. "Aeris..." he whispered to the water, touching it with his hand. A ripple spread out from his fingers, his reflection distorted by a myriad of tiny waves. His eyes were pulled towards the reflection as a twisted smile appeared on its face. He took a step back only to have it step forward. "Who are you?" he demanded. 'I'm you,' the reflection seemed to say without words. He shook his head, backing away from it, while it advanced towards him. "This... you're not real. You can't be." The reflection laughed, a mocking note in its voice. 'I'm as real as you are.' He turned to run, but felt a pair of cold fingers curl around his ankles, pulling him down. He thrashed against their grasp. His head was just inches above the surface. In the corner of his eye, he saw a figure on the shore reaching out for him, before he was suddenly pulled under, down into the depths of the lake._

He woke with a jolt, nearly banging his head against the bunk above. He sat there, cold sweat running down his face, as he struggled to calm himself.

"Just a dream," Cloud whispered. "Just a stupid dream." He swung both legs off the mattress and placed his face in his hands. He could hear soft breathing from the bunks above. "They must be still asleep. I wonder what time it is?" He reached down, tapping around on the floor with his fingers until grasping something soft. Pulling first one boot towards him and then the other, he slipped them onto his feet. He stood slowly, careful not to bang his head against the top bunk, and silently crossed the room. Grasping the cool handle, he pushed the door ajar and slipped quietly into the hall. The flickering ceiling bulbs cast a dim light along the small corridor. The ship vibrated and the shadows danced. His sharp ears picked out the hum of the engine from the decks below. Cloud sighed as he wandered down the hall. "It must early in the morning, some time after midnight." Boots ringing against the metal steps, he climbed to the top of the stairs and swung open the door. A blast of refreshing night air greeted him as he stepped outside. Cloud walked to the edge of the deck, gazing up at the stars that shone clearly in the dark sky. A chill wind from the north howled across the ship, blowing hard against his face.

"... Cloud!"

He jumped, spinning around, eyes searching the darkness for the one who had called his name. "Who's there?" he demanded, trying to keep the alarm out of his voice.

The sound of giggling echoed across the deck. "Did I scare the great, mighty Cloud?" teased Aeris, appearing from behind a wall of the cabin. Cloud's cheeks turned a light pink colour and he muttered something under his breath. "I heard you leaving the room. Everything all right?" She stood next to him now, leaning on the railing as she stared out into the sea.

"Yah," he replied calmly. "Just a nightmare."

"Oooo... scary, what was it about?"

Cloud looked away, mumbling, "I'd rather not say."

"That bad?" asked Aeris, gazing up at him. He had his back resting against the rail, with his head tilted up, eyes to the stars. He nodded slightly and she turned away, returning her gaze to the sea. The moon shone on a hundred sharp, black waves. She pushed a few locks of hair aside, only to have them blown back into her face.

"Thank you." She glanced up at him.

"For what?" Aeris asked, puzzled.

"For saving my life," Cloud answered, looking down at her. "If it weren't for you, I'd... be dead."

She smiled warmly, placing her hands on his. "You don't have to thank me. It was the least I could do. After all, Tifa would be heart broken." Cloud's cheeks turned pink again. Aeris chuckled, seeing his reaction. "You two make a nice couple."

"Really?" asked Cloud sheepishly. "You... ugh!" He never finished the sentence as a wave of dizziness gripped him. He grabbed the railing for support. The world rocked sickeningly around him.

"Cloud!" cried Aeris, catching him as he collapsed to his knees.

"...wa... ter," he stammered.

"What?"

"Something's... in... water..." Cloud faltered.

"Something is in the water?" asked Aeris, trying to understand. He nodded slowly, eyes closed tight. Aeris stood up and peered over the railing. She had a brief glimpse of a huge mass in the water before it rammed into the hull and sent her flying across the deck.

-------------------------

Tifa woke with a start and tumbled out of the bunk. Her instincts kicked in, moving her feet and hands to brace her fall. She landed in a crouch and quickly stood, eyes darting around the room. It was empty, save for Cloud's sword, but that was too heavy to lift. She flung open the cabin door and ran down the hall. She clattered up the stairs, taking two, three steps in each stride, and burst out onto the deck. The boat shook violently as something crashed against its side. Tifa stumbled, but managed to stay on her feet. She spotted Aeris a few meters away, attempting to stand.

"Aeris!" Tifa yelled. "What's going on?"

"It's Emerald Weapon!" she shouted. "It's ramming the ship!" Tifa grit her teeth. "Tifa! Help Cloud! Something's wrong with him!" Aeris gestured towards a figure huddled against the railing. Tifa took off at a run, the deck rattling beneath her feet.

"Weapon must have punched a hole in the ship," she thought aloud. The craft gave another terrible shudder before pitching sideways. Tifa fell, hands striking the metal surface below her as her boots skidded across the deck. Her body slammed into the rail. She winced, then grabbed hold for dear life as a huge wave crashed over the side. The wail of sirens rose up from the boat, mixing with the roar of water and the deep rumble of something below the surface. With a piercing whine and a sharp crackle, the speakers came to life.

"All passengers and crew to the lifeboats!" came the voice of the captain. "I repeat, everyone abandon ship!"

Tifa spotted Cloud a meter away, clinging to the rail with his head bowed and eyes shut tight. "Cloud!" she shouted, struggling towards him. He was drenched with sea water, shivering hard. "Cloud we have to go, now!"

"...Tifa?" he asked weakly. He slowly opened his eyes, but immediately closed them again. The world was spinning and his vision blurred. He clung tighter to the metal bars.

"Cloud, the ship's sinking, we have to go," begged Tifa. She felt a tug on her shoulder, and glanced back to see Aeris standing behind her, with a hand on the rail for support.

"Tifa, the crew's almost evacuated," she shouted over the sirens. "We can't do anything here about the Weapon. We have got to leave!"

"... It's... coming," whispered Cloud. Tifa looked down at him, a confused expression on her face. He was breathing hard, his eyes still shut. "Coming... coming..." he murmured, "... come." There was a shriek as the hull twisted and buckled under the force of a sudden blow. The deck shuddered and lurched. Tifa braced herself against the handrail. From beneath the decks they could hear a long, low rumble like thunder.

"Cloud, can you stand?" Tifa asked hurriedly. He nodded slowly and struggled to his feet. Tifa pulled his left arm over her shoulder, Aeris did the same on the other side, and the three hurried to the lifeboats. The few sailors left on deck helped Cloud into the middle of one lifeboat. Aeris sat herself in the front and Tifa climbed into the back. The hands lowered the small craft into the water. There was a splash as it was caught by the dark waves, then with a clink they were free.

"This isn't good," said Aeris, her voice quavering. "Weapon's going to come after us, after me. I'm sorry for putting you in danger. I shouldn't have gotten you involved!"

"Don't say things like that," Tifa replied, grabbing the oars and starting to row them away from the sinking vessel. "We'll think of something." Cloud lay on the bottom of the lifeboat with his eyes squeezed tight. Aeris looked down at him, then up at Tifa.

"It's... coming," whispered Cloud. Tifa began to row faster.

"I... might be able to deter it," said Aeris slowly. "I don't know what effects it'll have though."

Tifa looked back to see a large bulge rising from the water. "Just do it!" she yelled.

Aeris nodded, taking a deep breath. "Hold on, this may get rough." She closed her eyes, clasping her hands in prayer. She began whispering words under her breath. Tifa's eyes were fixed on the dark shape, watching as it drew towards them, picking up speed. A green glow began to appear around Aeris. It grew brighter by the second. She opened her eyes and pointed her palms to the water. Tifa felt her breath catch in her lungs as shock waves pulsed out from the green glow. The last thing she remembered was a sensation of falling.

-------------------------

_Cloud stared up at a starry sky. Flower petals fell around him like snow. "... What am I doing here?" he asked the petals. He turned his gaze away from the heavens. Out of the corner of one eye, Cloud could see a dark figure, watching him. He sensed the stranger's invisible eyes search him, raking up and down his very being. A shiver ran up his spine. He tried to run away, but found his feet couldn't move. His pulse quickened as the shade drew near. He struggled to move his legs, but they were frozen in place. The silhouette stopped right before him. Cloud looked up at the towering spectre, his heart pounding in his ears. "Stay away!" he yelled and swung out an arm. His hand met with nothing but air._

Cloud's eyes snapped open. He was staring at the dark silhouette of his arm, framed against the bright morning sun. He winced and squinted his eyes. "Where am I?" he wondered, slowly pushing himself upright. A dull ache had engulfed his body. His breath came out in small puffs of vapour on the cold morning air. "What happened?" The last clear memory he had was heading up to the deck for air. After that, everything became a bit hazy. A nightmare, perhaps? He looked around, finding to his surprise that he was sitting in a lifeboat, adrift on the ocean. Tifa and Aeris were lying at either end of the small craft, sleeping. Or at least, he thought they were sleeping. A cold wind whistled across the water. Cloud shivered, and fear began to take hold.

"Tifa!" he exclaimed, his voice sounding strange to his ears. "Hey, wake up." He shook her gently with his right hand. She opened her eyes and blinked. "Tifa, are you all right?"

"Cloud?" she asked, slowly pulling herself up. "I think... I'm all right." He nodded, turning to Aeris.

"Aeris, hey, Aeris wake up," he said, also giving her a gentle shake. A sharp pain ran up his arm, causing him to wince and pull away. He flexed it, frowning. "It looks all right," he thought.

"Cloud, everything okay?" asked Tifa, peering over his shoulder.

"I don't know," he answered truthfully. Aeris let off a groan as she opened her eyes. Cloud turned to look at her, "Aeris, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she answered, sitting up. "Just stiff from laying funny in the boat."

"What happened?" he asked, scanning the horizon. For as far as the eye could see, the ocean was a mass of undulating grey, without any sign of ships or land. They were entirely alone.

"Well," began Aeris, shifting to a more comfortable position, "Emerald Weapon attacked us. Do you remember that at all?"

He frowned, searching his memories. "No... not really. All I remember is talking to you then..." he fell silent, pondering something. After a moment he shook his head. "I only remember this strange sensation I was having. I don't know how to describe it. I'm sure I've had that feeling once before." He turned a thoughtful gaze towards Tifa. "In... Mideel, I think. It's hard to say though, everything around then is so... muddled."

Tifa nodded. "Yah, I think I heard you say something similar then, like, 'they're coming.' I don't know for sure. But it was right before Ultimate Weapon attacked."

"Sounds as if you may have a knack for sensing Weapon," mused Aeris.

"We don't know that for sure," muttered Cloud. "Hey... if we were getting attacked by Emerald Weapon, how are we still alive?"

Tifa's eyes fell on Aeris. "What was that spell thing you used anyway?"

Aeris hesitated, looking down at her feet. "It's... uh..." she fell silent, studying her shoes. "... It's a limitbreak of sorts. The planet told me only to use it as a last resort."

"Why's that?" asked Cloud.

"Well," answered Aeris quietly, "it doesn't just effect Weapons. As you saw, Tifa, it's harmful to us as well."

"Exactly how harmful?" asked Tifa nervously.

"The planet told me that it'll kill those who have been exposed to it for too long," answered Aeris. Cloud felt suddenly cold, his voice lost. Tifa was silent as well. Aeris continued staring at her footwear.

"Kill?" asked Tifa weakly after a while. "As in dead?" Aeris nodded her head, although it wasn't really neccesary. Her grim expression said it all. "How much exposure are we talking here?"

"I don't... know."

"And we're not going to find out," said Cloud gruffly. "We have to find land before Emerald Weapon decides to come snooping about again."

"Good idea," Tifa began, "but we don't even know where we are. How are we going to find land?"

"Well, we're up north, somewhere," supplied Aeris. "I think we just choose a direction to go and at some point we'll hit land."

"That's not a good idea!" Tifa protested. "We could end up out here for months with little food. We'll starve."

"No we won't," Cloud said firmly, hoping to stop Tifa from panicing. "Look, we don't have many options at the moment and just sitting here drifting isn't doing us any good. Tifa, you and I will row. Aeris, you keep an eye out for anything. Is that all right?" The two of them nodded, Tifa after a moment's hesitation. Aeris turned around and sat, kneeling in the bow, her long hair flowing in the breeze. Cloud crept back towards the stern of the boat, picking up one paddle as Tifa took the other. They dipped the blades into the water and rowed. For a while the only sounds were the slosh of paddles through water and the lapping of waves against the sides of their raft.

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Hey! Remember me? I've finally got around to uh... posting that chapter I promised heh... four months ago? Oops... the reason you ask? Well, let me ask you, what happened to my reviewers? You all went poof along with me it seems. Anywhoo I'm back! I'm not going to make any promises this time when the next chapter will be posted since my wonderful editor, who is currently breathing down my back is very very very busy being drowned with uni work.


	5. Ch5 A Storm

"Hey Tifa, why don't you take a break?" suggested Cloud. They had been rowing for hours straight with still no sign of land. The sun was already sinking towards the horizon and the air was becoming colder. Large, dark clouds were gathering overhead and the lifeboat rocked up and down, carried by waves the colour of slate. "You look tired."

Tifa shook her head. "You're not looking so well yourself. You should be the one having the break."

"I feel fine," he replied.

"Well, so do I," answered Tifa. There was a giggle from the bow of the boat. Tifa leaned to one side to see past Cloud. "What's so funny?"

"Oh... nothing!" laughed Aeris, smiling back at Tifa.

"Do you see any land, ships?" asked Cloud hopefully.

Aeris looked back out into the waves. "Nope, I can hardly see anything." A thick fog had rolled in around noon, appearing about the same time as the ominous thunderheads. "Even the weather seems against us." She glanced up at the sky again. "Looks like it's getting worse."

"Do we have any rain gear?" he asked. They had found a small cache of supplies under Aeris's seat. It held a few tins and packets of food, as well as blankets, a flash light, batteries, and a tarp.

"Well, the tarp, but that's it," answered Aeris. She looked up at the grey forms blotting out the sky. "If that storm breaks we'd better have this tarp set up."

Cloud pulled his paddle in and turned to face Aeris. "All right, let's try and get this thing on." Tifa sighed and pulled her paddle out of the water as well.

"Looks like we'll both be taking that break," she muttered. Aeris dragged a small plastic bundle out from under her seat and handed it to Cloud. He examined it for a few moments before beginning to unfold it.

"Looks like it ties on to something," he remarked, holding up a corner. A pair of sturdy looking ropes dangled from the crinkled plastic.

Tifa peered over the edge of the lifeboat. "There's holes along the rim," she observed. "It probably attaches to that."

"Looks like it goes completely over the top," commented Cloud handing the ends to Tifa and Aeris. "For now, just attach one side."

When Tifa finished tying her ropes she made to reach for her paddle, but found it was gone. She looked around and saw Cloud was holding it. "Hey!" she nearly shouted.

Cloud looked at her innocently. "What?"

"What do you mean 'what?' That's my paddle!" challenged Tifa.

"Oh? You mean this?" asked Cloud in mock surprise. "I didn't know it was yours."

"Ha, ha, very funny," she replied sarcastically. "Can I have it back now?"

"Nope," he said with a smile. "You're taking a break."

"No I'm not!" Tifa insisted, trying to grab for the paddles. Cloud moved them out of her reach. "Give it here!"

"Nope," he repeated, spitting out his tongue.

Aeris, who had been watching the whole scene, couldn't keep herself from laughing any longer. She cracked up, hugging her sides, tears filling her eyes. Tifa stopped trying to swipe her paddle back, cheeks turning a deep pink. She slumped back on the seat, muttering under her breath.

"Fine, you win. But I'm only taking a short break." Cloud grinned back at her, triumphant. He placed the two paddles in the water and began to row. Aeris brushed the tears from her eyes, smiling.

"I haven't laughed like that in a while," she giggled.

"I wasn't that funny," muttered Tifa, cheeks still red. Aeris simply smiled at her comment. "Ugh, this fog is thick. Doesn't even feel like we're moving."

"I think that storm's going to hit soon," said Aeris anxiously, her gaze fixed on the clouds. Cloud looked up at the sky, pausing in his paddling. He shivered.

_"Hang in there, Cloud. We've almost made it to Midgar. Then we'll be home free. I can't wait to see the look on her face when we..."_

Cloud stiffened, quickly looking away from the heavens.

"Cloud?" asked Tifa, noticing his sudden discomfort. "You okay?" He was silent, staring at the floor of the boat as if he hadn't heard. "Cloud?"

He nodded his head and sat there quietly for a while. "Aeris," he began, without turning to face her, "... did you... know Zack?"

"Zack?" said Aeris with surprise. "Well, I knew a Zack."

"He was a first class SOLDIER," added Tifa, when Cloud didn't reply. "Black spiky hair, carried around a buster sword."

"I... I knew him," stammered Aeris. "A long time ago. I haven't heard from him in over five years now. So... you did know him then." Cloud simply nodded. "He was charismatic. Even though he was very full of himself, he had this charm. I think... it must have rubbed off on you, since when we first met, you reminded me of him so much." Cloud smiled, dipping the blades back into the water.

"Five years ago? That's when he was at Nibelheim," replied Tifa thoughtfully. "He went with Sephiroth and Cloud."

"He said he was on some routine mission and would be back soon. I never saw him again," Aeris said sadly. "He's probably dead now."

Tifa looked at Cloud. "He is," answered Cloud quietly. "Shot just outside of Midgar." A stillness fell over the little craft. Aeris stared down at the water, watching as it swirled past the hull. A few small ripples flickered across the surface. She looked up. Thick drops of rain splattered against her face. Ducking down, she pulled the tarp over her head. Glancing back she saw that Cloud and Tifa had done the same. The wind was starting to pick up and large waves had begun to form. "Hang on! This is going to get bumpy!" Cloud called. "Try and get the tarp tied down on the other side!" Aeris was quick to spring into action. She had to slide off her seat and crouch in the bottom of the boat to get the tarp tied over the top. Rummaging around, she pulled out the flashlight and flicked it on.

"Everyone all right?" she asked. They could hear thunder rumbling not too far off and the crash of rain upon the tarpaulin. The waves beat the sides of the boat like a drum, echoing against the metal hull.

"This is turning out wonderfully," mused Tifa. "At least it's warmer down here." The wind outside was growing stronger and the little ship had begun to roll to and fro in the waters. "How long do you think this storm is going to last?"

"Don't know," answered Cloud, shifting himself so his back was against the side of the hull. "Probably till morning." The boat plunged over another wave, startling Aeris as it crashed against the surface with a splash.

"Ugh, I can't sleep with it doing that," she moaned. Tifa nodded her head in agreement.

"Suit yourself," yawned Cloud resting his head against his left arm. "I'll warn you, it's a long time 'til morning."

"You can fall asleep in this?" asked Tifa incredulously.

"'Course," replied Cloud. "Night."

Tifa shook her head in disbelief, glancing towards Aeris.

"What about us?" the other girl asked. There was no reply, for Cloud had already drifted into sleep. "Meany."

"Don't worry," whispered Tifa. "We'll get him to do all the paddling tomorrow."

_Sky... where was the sky? He was lying, back against cold metal, staring at dark storm clouds as they swirled overhead. Petals fell all around him, flecks of brilliant colour against the gloom. He raised his hand to greet them, hoping to catch one. One fluttered close to his hand before slipping away, caught in the wind. He sat up to watch where it would land. He was sitting in an old square metal box. He brushed his gold hair out of his eyes. Why? Why was he here? He slowly stood, moving to the edge of the box to see what lay beyond. He gasped, stepping away, as blue flames sprang to life around him. The searing heat made him cringe. Tears of pain came to his eyes. Cloud gazed in disbelief at the sea of fire. Movement caught his eyes. He searched the flames, finding a dark figure moving through them with ease. The figure turned, fixing eyes upon his face, beginning to stroll towards him. Cloud drew away from the edge of the box, ignoring the growing heat against his back. Pain suddenly ripped through his right arm, causing him to fall to his knees. He grit his teeth against the agony. The figure stood before him, flames silently snaking towards him, licking at the container's edge. A hand suddenly shot out of the fire, snatching hold of his left arm in a vice grip. "Cloud..."_

He cried out, lashing wildly with his hand, nearly hitting Aeris. She managed to duck in time. He sat there, cold sweat running down his face as he scanned the landscape around them. By the look of it they had been blown ashore by the storm. Tifa was standing on a snowy bank, gloved hands tightly wrapped around the metal rim of the craft. She was looking at him, eyes wide with surprise, brow furrowed with worry.

"Sorry," murmured Cloud, his breath escaping in puffs of steam.

"You all right?" asked Tifa.

"I'm okay," replied Aeris. "How about you, Cloud?" He simply nodded his head, not meeting her eyes.

He stood up suddenly, leaping from the boat. His boots crackled against the ice. "I'm... going to find out where we are."

"All right," said Tifa kindly. "Sure you're all right?"

"I'm fine, I just need a... moment," he said quietly.

She smiled answering, "Take as long as you like."

"Thanks, Tifa." He turned, walking off.

"Hey, Aeris, could you start gathering the food together?" Tifa asked. "We don't know how far we are from civilization."

"Right away," saluted Aeris as she began to busy herself with pulling out the supplies. Tifa glanced out across the frozen terrain, hoping to catch a glimpse of the blond haired man, but he had already disappeared from sight.

"Cloud..." she whispered sadly. Though he had tried to hide it, she could tell something had rattled him badly.

Cloud made sure he was out of sight before collapsing on the ground. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, relaxing in the snow's gentle touch, its flakes melting against his flushed cheeks. A twinge of pain shot along his right arm. He opened his eyes, staring at the limb as it lay beside him. His hand was shaking, shivering, but not from the cold. He gripped it tightly against his chest and began to whisper. Over and over he murmured, "Just a dream. All just a dream. Wasn't real. A stupid dream. Just a dream. All just a dream..."

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Yay! Ch5 is complete! Hopefully I start getting chapters up faster for this story, but we'll just have to see.

Big thanks to my one reviewer Peter McClelland, I really enjoyed reading your review and I hope you continue enjoying reading my fanfic yay!

Onto the next chapter for me!


	6. Ch6 Snowflakes

Cloud led the way, stumbling and tromping across the snow, barely watching where he was going. His mind was miles away, worrying over matters far removed from the here and now. Tifa trailed behind him, with Aeris keeping pace beside her, as she worried, in turn, about him.

"Cheer up Tifa," whispered Aeris, patting her on the back. "He'll be fine in a few hours, you'll see."

Tifa favoured the other girl a tiny smile that quivered on her lips for but a moment before it faded quietly away. "Thanks," she murmured. "But you don't know that for sure. I can't help but worry. Maybe I should go talk to him..."

Aeris shook her head, her curly locks dancing out from underneath the grey blanket she had wrapped herself in. "I think he'd be embarrassed to talk about a dream. Just leave him be, Tifa."

"Are you sure?" she asked, glancing back to Cloud, watching him trudge ahead alone, concern clear upon her face. "It could be more than just that dream bothering him. I mean, he did almost hit you, and he is the type to feel guilt about that sort of thing."

"I'm sure," answered Aeris. "If he wanted our company he'd be back here. We have to respect his privacy and give him time to think."

"I guess…" Tifa sighed, her eyes straying back to him. Aeris gave her a reassuring pat, smiling sweetly. They traveled in silence for a while, the bitter air nipping at their faces and their hands. Tifa shivered and pulled her blanket close about herself. The sky was overcast, an unbroken sea of solemn greys. "… I wish it was warmer."

"Oh, it's just a bit of cold," teased Aeris.

"Well, I'm not exactly dressed for the occasion," replied Tifa with a grimace.

"Right, poor you. Well, I'm nice and toasty," the other girl grinned.

"Oh? Is that so?" asked Tifa, a devilish light entering her eyes. She picked up a hand full of snow, tossing it at Aeris.

"Hey!" she yelled with a slight laugh and a huge smile on her face. "No fair, I wasn't ready!" She ducked down, stuffing her hands in the cold powder and clasping them together to make a snowball, which she promptly pitched at the other girl. Tifa dodged aside, her blanket falling off her shoulders. A war broke out within seconds with snow flying between them. "Oh, Cloud!" Aeris sang.

He glanced over his shoulder, only to be greeted by a cold, wet smack in the face. Tifa began to laugh, a snowball slipping from her hands. Cloud dropped his blanket and brushed the snow away, as a mischievous grin appeared. In a quick motion he'd grabbed a pile of snow and started charging towards Aeris.

She let out a slight yelp and raced off with Cloud in close pursuit, the blanket she had been clutching flying off into a drift. Tifa charged after them, a ball in each hand. She launched one at Cloud's back. It crashed into his hair, flying into pieces and knocking his spikes askew. He skittered to a halt, turning to face her.

"Got you!" she laughed triumphantly. He grinned, bending over to create another snowball. She smiled sweetly, hurling the second at him before diving away.

"Run Tifa!" shouted Aeris, tossing a snowball at Cloud.

"Hey!" he yelledwith a large grin on his face. "No fair ganging up on me!"

Aeris spat out her tongue as she threw another. Cloud ducked, scooping up a large pile of snow and flinging it at Aeris. Meanwhile Tifa had crept up behind him, holding a big clump of snow, which she delicately dropped on his head. He spun around and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Hey, no fair!" Tifa cried as Cloud used her to shield himself from one of Aeris's volleys. A sudden gust of harsh, arctic wind whipped past them. Cloud let her go and looked to the heavens.

"We should keep moving," he said quietly.

"It's probably going to start snowing," Tifa observed, following Cloud's gaze to the dark sky, before returning her attention to their surroundings. "I think I know where we are."

Cloud nodded, looking back at Tifa. "Yah, all we have to do is find those poles. Hopefully they're not buried too deep."

Aeris had gathered up their blankets, handing them each one. After a few minutes of shaking the wool free of snow, they continued, the sky growing darker with each passing minute. It wasn't long before snow began to fall, at first in large fluffy flakes. Tifa watched the weather anxiously as the flakes turned to hard, white kernels and the kernels turned to pellets of ice.

She kept one arm out in front of her, to shield her face from the wind and hail. Her eyes followed the ground, watching where she placed each step. There was no point in looking elsewhere, the constant flurries made it all but impossible to see.

"Cloud!" she shouted over the growing storm. "We need to find shelter!"

"There should be a cave around here," Cloud yelled back, his voice coming from somewhere ahead. "We just have to find it!"

"I can hardly see anything, how are we supposed to do that?"

"Look!" hollered Aeris, pointing to an ice-covered rod sticking from the ground. "What is that?"

"It's one of our poles! There should be more of then around here," Tifa turned, looking in all directions, searching for any sign of the next pole. "Cloud? Do you see anything?"

He scanned the white haze around them. "No, nothing."

"Let me try," shouted Aeris. She clasped her palms together, whispering something. A glow appeared around her hands for a few moments before disappearing. She opened her eyes, a look of determination on her face. She pointed past Cloud, "That way!"

Cloud nodded and began to lead them in the direction Aeris had chosen. Tifa bowed her head, shivering as she trudged along. Her limbs felt stiff, making movement difficult.

After what seemed like ages she realized the snow had become shallow and the wind had stopped. She looked up to see that she now stood in the entrance of a small cave, one they had passed when coming to the North for the first time.

It would provide shelter from the storm, for that she was thankful, though the place sent shivers down her spine. The cave was all but barren- it had been long since life had last disturbed its quiet sanctum. There was a ruined tent to one side, a thick layer of frost covering its tattered canvas, the only sign people had once taken refuge here from the storm. It unnerved her how silent the place was, telling nothing of what had happened to those who had come before.

"We made it," sighed Aeris, flopping down on the cave floor. "I was worried for a few moments."

"It's freezing," muttered Tifa, rubbing her arms.

"There's a fire pit over there," remarked Cloud. "You two keep moving around. I'll see what I can do."

He strolled over to it, staring down at the ashes. Close by, he saw a pile of wood that someone had stacked. He grabbed a few logs, prying them free of the ice, and placed them in the pit. Kneeling down on the cold cave floor, Cloud stretched out his arms. With a thought, a bangle on his arm began to glow, emitting a faint red light.

Flames sprang to life, jumping across the timber, eating at it greedily. Tifa and Aeris hurried over to enjoy the warmth. The blaze danced happily, giving off a surprising amount of heat. Cloud pulled his blanket off, placing it on the tent to let it dry. He sat back down across from Aeris, staring into the flickeringlight and listening to the crackle of burning wood. Tifa sat quietly to one side, fiddling with her gloves.

Aeris was first to break the silence. "How long are we going to be here?"

"Who knows," answered Cloud quietly, not looking up at her. "We'll just have to wait and see. When the weather clears up, we'll keep going."

"How far till the north crater?" asked Aeris. "I've never been this far north before." Cloud shifted uncomfortably, not daring to look at her.

"Not too far," replied Tifa. "There's a cabin we'll stop at, then we have to scale Gaea's Cliff and come down the other side, into the crater."

"It'll have changed," added Cloud, looking up at Tifa. "It's going to be difficult to locate the black materia after all that's happened since…" he trailed off.

"We have to find it," Aeris whispered in a determined voice. "The planet needs us to find it before..." she hesitated, "before... the Weapons reach the North Crater."

"So are they coming north?" asked Tifa. "Cloud?"

Cloud shut his eyes, feeling around in his mind. "If they are, I can't tell," he replied after a while.

"If we wait here too long, the Weapons will catch up," continued Aeris, her hands twisting anxiously in her lap. "The longer I take, the more I run the risk of failing." She stared at the flames and spoke quietly to herself, "I can't fail."

"We should rest then," suggested Cloud, stretching. "That storm's going to last a while. We don't know when we'll next get a chance." Tifa and Aeris nodded in agreement. "I'll keep an eye on the fire. You two get some sleep."

"Right," answered Aeris, standing up and moving over to the tent. "I'll take a watch later."

"Same here," chorused Tifa.

Cloud nodded and the two of them slid into the tent. He made himself comfortable, gazing absently at the cave walls. "Weapons," he thought grimly to himself. "Why couldn't we have taken care of them before, when they weren't after us? I guess we were so focused on dealing with Sephiroth we never thought about the problems they'd cause. Maybe I was too focused on defeating him..." He threw a few twigs into the pit and watched the flames devour them. "I thought we'd deal with the Weapons afterwards, I guess. I didn't really think we'd win against him. It's so hard to say what I was thinking back then. It all feels so surreal. I can't believe we won. I still can't."

He absently picked up a log from beside him and tossed it into the blaze, sending sparks flying. He gave a hiss of pain as several hit his hand. He instantly snatched his arm away, wincing as he shook it.

"You all right?" He glanced up, surprised to see Aeris coming towards him.

"Uh, yah," he stammered, suddenly feeling sheepish. "Just some sparks."

"Oh, let me have a look," she asked anxiously. She sat down beside him, gently taking his hand in her own. Cloud's cheeks turned a light shade of pink. He quickly glanced away, hoping she hadn't noticed. She examined his hand intently for another moment before letting it go. "Looks alright. Please be more careful next time, okay?" He met her eyes for a brief moment and she smiled brightly at him. His blush immediately deepened, causing him to look quickly away again. She turned her gaze to the fire that crackled quietly beside them.

"I'm sorry."

She looked up at him, not sure if she'd heard him speak. "For what?" she asked after a moment.

He shifted his weight nervously, not daring to look at her. "For a lot of things," he answered softly after a while. "That I couldn't save you... when." His voice cracked with emotion. He paused, taking a deep breath, but continued. "That I didn't do anything to help either of you. That I could only stand dumbly by and watch as you and Zack..." he paused again, "...died." His voice was barley a whisper. Unwanted tears blurred his vision.

She reached forward, embracing him gently. "It's all right," she whispered softly to him. "I don't blame you, and Zack wouldn't either, he wasn't like that." He stiffened within her arms. She pulled back slightly, looking up at him, their eyes meeting. She tenderly placed her hand on his. "Don't let your past control your future. The past is the past. It's there, in your memory, for you to look upon, but that's all. You can't change what happened, you just have to put it to rest, and live in the present, understand?" She smiled sweetly at him, tilting her head slightly to one side. He nodded, brushing the tears away.

"Thank you," he murmured.

"You don't need to thank me, silly," giggled Aeris.

He shook his head. "No, I do. Aeris," he squeezed her hand slightly, "thank you." She looked up at him, her cheeks the same pink as his.

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Big thankyous to my wonderful reviewers 4everndfh and OniCelestialFury. Will this story end up as Tifa/Cloud or Aeris/Cloud, you'll just have to keep reading and see! Mwahahahaa…

As for updates well… they will keep coming, probably not very quickly though, sorry. Keep an eye on my profile for update information for any of my stories.

I went all the way to the North Crater to do research for this chapter, and ran around in the blizzard and the freezing cold. So, that's the chapter, hope you enjoyed! I need a hot chocolate…


	7. Ch7 A Climb

"Tifa! Tifa wake up! Tifa!" It was the urgency in Aeris's voice that snapped her awake.

She shot up, fully alert from too many cases of waking up to a surprise attack during their adventures. "What is it?"

"We have to go now," answered Aeris quickly, grabbing one of the bags that were lying at the end of the tent. She started rapidly stuffing the few items they'd taken out of the bags back in. "Weapon's on its way!" Tifa paled, taking hold of the bag Aeris shoved into her hands. "Go check on Cloud, I'm worried about him. I think the Weapon's getting to him again."

Tifa mentally shook herself, pushing herself into gear. "Right, I'll meet you out there." She scrambled to the entrance of the frozen tent, grabbing her boat blanket as she exited. She stood up, wrapping the slightly damp material around herself, while glancing around for her blond friend. "Cloud!" she called, when she couldn't find him in the cave. She jogged towards the entrance, praying she'd find him there. "Cloud!" He stood a several meters from the cave entrance, staring out upward into the falling snow. "Cloud!"

He turned slightly, eyes not entirely focusing on her as she came up to him. "Tifa," he replied slowly, clearly having trouble concentrating.

"Don't scare me like that, I thought that you'd wandered off by yourself for a moment."

There was a brief pause as he strung her words together. "Sorry… it's hard to concentrate right now." His gaze drifted back towards the heavens. "It's not as bad as last time though, so I don't think it's as close." He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, letting the cold air burn his lungs. He hadn't slept a wink yet and he was silently praying that wouldn't catch up with him anytime soon. "We need to get moving."

"And we will, just as soon as Aeris gets here," Tifa assured him.

He nodded mutely, opening his eyes again. He could feel Weapon racing towards them, gaining by the second and with each second his concentration slipped a little more. He came back to reality when he felt a hand gently touch his bare arm. He blinked slowly, gazing down at Aeris who was holding out a blanket to him.

"Here," she offered him softly. "You're going to catch a cold if you don't wear this." He simply nodded, his mind completely blanking on what he could say to her. She merely smiled at him as he accepted the blanket from he, sluggishly wrapping it around his shoulders. "Come on, let's get moving."

They quickly left the cave behind, the wild flurries of snow hiding all trace of the small structure. Aeris closely followed the ice-covered poles, leading the way for the small group with Cloud struggling to keep up with her while Tifa hovered worriedly at his side. He gritted his teeth, pushing himself to catch up with the few paces that lay between him and Aeris. The last thing he wanted to was to slow them down, especially with a Weapon on their tail. He stumbled at one point, over what he didn't know but Tifa easily caught him, guiding him in his next steps.

"Are you alright?" she asked him worriedly.

He shook his head, trying to find the right words. "Its gaining way to fast, I don't think we're going to make it to the crater and back before it gets here." Tifa bit her lip as she helped him along, the same thought running through both their minds. There was no way they could win a fight against a Weapon with the very limited equipment that they had.

Snow fell heavier than ever upon them, blown by a harsh wind that had started not all that long ago. Tifa shivered, pulling her blanket closer, trying to keep the cold air and snow out. She kept a vigilant eye on her two companions as they hurried along. Cloud's gaze kept drifting back towards the dark sky hovering there a second long each time before he could force them back to the path head. Aeris had slowed her pace slightly when she realized that they weren't keeping up with her.

Tensions were starting to run high when they finally escaped the snowy plain and arrived at the small wooden cabin, which looked tinier than ever in comparison to the dark mountain that loomed up in the heavy snow behind it.

Tifa hesitated as Aeris started to march passed the cabin, Cloud slowly following after her. "I know we don't have much time, but I think we should see if he has any spare winter clothes we can borrow," she called out to her two companions. "There's no way we can last just with these boat blankets up there!" She made a wide gesture toward the humongous mountain.

Aeris looked like she was about to protest but her argument never passed her lips as Cloud answered, "I agree. It wouldn't do use any good to freeze to death." He headed towards the small cabin, the two girls coming quickly after him.

The door creaked open, allowing them into the warm entrance way. Fire light pooled into the dark hallway from the closest door, coaxing them to enter. Tifa shook the loose snow off herself, setting her blanket on a near by hook before she led the way towards the lit room. She peered inside, smiling when the elderly man who resided in house caught sight of her.

"Oh hello again," he greeted, standing up. "I didn't think you would come back for a second visit, you're the first ones ever to do that."

"I'm sorry," interrupted Aeris guiltily. "But we're in a hurry, and we were wondering if you…" she trailed out, looking even more ashamed.

"We're trying to climb the mountain again and we don't have any winter gear with us," exclaimed Tifa.

"Goodness griseous! I hope you weren't thinking of climbing that without any gear!" exclaimed the old man, moving quickly towards the hallway they were still huddled in. "Go warm yourself by the fire and I'll see what I can dig up, I shan't be long." With that he scurried off down the dark hallway that led farther into the house.

Not knowing what else to do while they waited, they slowly filtered into the room, grateful to get closer to the fire. Tifa set herself down on a sofa, leaning back into the cushions, watching her two companions from where she sat. Aeris was sitting on the very edge of the chair she'd taken near the door, her hands twisting anxiously on her lap, while Cloud stood in corner of the room, leaning against the wall. His face was cast in shadow, hiding his features from the barmaid.

A loud crack from the fireplace made Tifa jump. Cloud and Aeris weren't the only ones who were on edge. "How close?" her voice was deafening in the utter silence of the room.

"It's getting faster," came Cloud's strained answer.

Aeris shot out of her chair at that, making a move for the door. "I can't wait around," she told them quickly. "I'm going ahead, you two can catch up with the winter gear."

"Aeris wait!" exclaimed Tifa, lunging off the couch and grabbing hold of the other girl just as she stepped out into the hall. "You can't go out there just wearing a blanket! You'll freeze! Do you know how much colder it is up there!"

"I'll be fine."

"Cloud, back me up here!" exclaimed Tifa desperately, trying to find some way to get Aeris to stay.

He hesitated as both girls gazed expectantly at him. "I… agree with Tifa," he finally replied, nodding his head ever so slightly to assure himself of his answer. "Aeris at this point, a few minutes aren't going to make a difference, I doubt we'll get out of the North Crater before the Weapon shows up."

Aeris sighed heavily, "Alright," she relented quietly, allowing a relieved Tifa to guide her back into the room and over the couch the barmaid had been occupying earlier. The flower girl immediately clasped her hands together, trying to rid herself of her nervous energy. "I know that wasn't the brightest idea but… I can't stand just sitting here doing nothing."

"We know Aeris, and neither Tifa nor I like it either," Cloud assured her, Tifa nodding in agreement. She looked up as the old man appeared in the room again, a large bundle of winter clothing in his arms. The three were instantly on their feet again, helping him set the various apparel down. They all offered him thanks while they sorted through the items, each finding a coat, heavy pair of pants, hat and warm pair of gloves for the journey up the mountain. After ten minutes they were set to go again, leaving the boat blankets behind.

"Thank you so much once again," Aeris told him, as he showed them to the door.

"Think nothing of it Miss, just make sure you're careful on that there mountain, it isn't a cake walk," he warned them.

Aeris smiled, opening the door. "Don't worry, we'll be fine." With one more parting farewell they were off again, heading towards the crater and the Black Materia that lay within. None of them spoke as they reached the base of the mountain, and began to scale up its frozen slope. Cloud had taken the lead, setting the pace for the group, while Aeris came behind him and Tifa behind her.

The wind howled as they scaled upwards toward the top, the snow turning to ice pellets that stung their exposed skin. The journey was tedious and their progress was slow at best.

Tifa squinted against the storm, arms trembling from haling herself up the rock face was barely any rest. She tightened her grip on the frozen rocks just to make sure they were still there. She could just make out the ledge above where Cloud and Aeris stood waiting for her. She reached up, yanking herself up onto the tiny platform. She immediately knelt down, frantically trying to rub some warmth back into her numb legs. She looked up when she saw Cloud start to move towards the rock face again.

"Can't we take a break?" shouted Tifa over the tempest that was raging around them. "My arms are going to fall off and my legs are almost completely numb!" If she was this bad off, neither Cloud nor Aeris could be fairing much better. Cloud regarded her for a long moment, eyes shifting ever so slightly out towards the sky. Fear climbed up Tifa throat, making her glance out into the wild flurries but she couldn't see anything. They still had some time left. "Cloud please!" she called, turning back to him. "You look like you're going to collapse any minute now!"

He turned his face away from her, staring intently at the mountain before him, making Aeris glance anxiously back at Tifa. "The caves not that much higher," he answered after a moment, voice just audible over the wind. "I promise, we'll rest there, where it's sheltered." Tifa reluctantly nodded to that, allowing him to once again start the climb to the cave at the top.

Cloud didn't dare look back as he trudged upward again. His prediction was coming true, and as much as he didn't like to admit it, he knew he was tiring out much quicker than the two girls. He didn't even think he could rest easily now, not with the constant distraction of the Weapon drawing ever closer towards them. He could feel it so clearly now, much better than he'd been able to back in the cabin. He wasn't looking forward to the confrontation with the creature. He grimaced, shaking his head, trying to focus again on finding the next handhold. The cave was just above them now, he could just make it out through the swirling snow.

He knew he'd promised Tifa that they would take a break in the cavern above but could they really afford to loose the time with Weapon so close on their heels? Besides what could they even do against it when it did catch up? He only had a low level fire material on him, and he doubted that would even faze a Weapon let alone do damage. The best option it seemed right now was to keep moving without stopping and hope they found it and got out of there before the Weapon completely caught up.

He brushed his turmoil of thoughts away as he pulled himself up onto the ledge that the cave stood on. He quickly turned then, offering a hand to help Tifa up.

She smiled gratefully at him, accepting his hand. He easily pulled her up onto the cliff, telling her to go wait in the cave entrance while he gave Aeris a hand. She reluctantly agreed, the cold weather winning out her. He then turned to Aeris, reaching down a hand that the flower girl gratefully took. Once she was up on the shelf, they proceeded into the cave, Cloud coming a few steps behind Aeris.

Just as he passed through the entrance to the cavern, his legs gave out completely from under him. "Cloud!" cried both Aeris and Tifa. The barmaid reacted quicker, grabbing hold of him before he hit the solid ground. "I knew you were pushing yourself." She slowly lowered him to the cavern floor. "You alright?"

He leaned back against the cave wall, eyes shut tight, right hand placed against his head. "I-I-" he winched, hand tightening on his temple. "It's almost here…" He opened his eerie glowing blue eyes. "The Weapon…"

The girls exchanged a fearful look but Tifa put her foot down. "We'll worry about that later. As of right now we're taking a break, and I'm not above holding you down Cloud."

He gave a grim smile at her threat. "I don't like the idea of waiting around for it."

"I don't either," she admitted. "But we're still taking a break. If we face it, I'd rather not have it that we're not dead on our feet."

Aeris nodded in agreement, sitting down beside him. "That climb was tough on all of us. We'll just rest for a few moments and then we'll go on our way. We can't be that far from the crater, can we?"

Tifa shook her head, answering the question. "We just have to go through this tunnel and then just walk down into it."

Aeris hesitated for a second before asking, "Do you know where we would find the Black Materia in there? We don't have a lot of time…" she trailed of, looking away guiltily.

There was a long moment of silence where no one said anything. "It has to be around the place where we fought Jenova," Cloud spoke slowly. "After all, that's around the same place Sephiroth was the first time."

Aeris glance back to see Cloud was staring off out the cave entrance into the falling snow. "The place has collapsed twice since then," reminded Tifa worriedly. "It might of… fallen into the lifestream by this point."

"Sephiroth wasn't that stupid," answered the blond coldly. "He'd have kept it in a safe place… like that tree he was in."

Tifa nodded mutely to that but Aeris couldn't help herself from asking, "Tree?"

"The first time we arrived here," supplied Tifa, knowing Cloud wouldn't be comfortable talking about it. "Sephiroth was suspended in a large fragment of crystal like material in a tree that was…" she hesitated, eyes flickering to Cloud for the briefest of seconds, "hanging from the ceiling."

An awkward silence fell then, only confusing Aeris more but she could tell neither of her companions were willing to say more so she didn't push it. After several more minutes had dragged by in the brutal quiet, Cloud abruptly rose to his feet, unable to take it anymore.

"I think we should get going now."

Tifa rose as well. "Are you sure?" she asked him anxiously.

He smiled sincerely at her. "I'm feeling better now, don't worry."

"Alright," she finally answered. "Come on, this way." Tifa beckoned them on, taking the lead down the tunnel. After making sure Aeris was following along, Cloud set out behind the martial artist. Aeris trailed behind them both, her confused look slowly turning thoughtful as she did.

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(Rises from the grave) I wonder if anyone is still reading this...

Oh well, thought I'd at least finish it or attempt to finish it. Well technically, I already have and the finished version is on my computer. So really it's a matter of posting it all at this point.

I'm sorry if it's staggering difference between this chapter and the last ones but my editor quit on me and I hadn't work up the nerve to try and correct this story on my own till now. So if there is anyone who's interested in editing this, it would really help speed things along.

Anyway, huge thanks going out to all the people who've reviewed / favourites / and or alerted this story, it really helped get my nerve up to actually post this chapter. So thanks once again!

Here's to hopefully the continued revival of Broken Arrow!


	8. Ch8 Encounters

"Aeris look out!" That was the only warning she got before Cloud shoved her roughly out of the way. There was a whoosh of something just behind her, where she'd only been standing seconds before in the icy cavern. She whirled around, only to see Cloud crash into the far wall of the cavern.

"Cloud!" shouted Aeris and Tifa at the same time. Aeris went to race toward him but Tifa grabbed hold of her, pulling her back right as a large silver blue tail slammed down into the ground before them. Aeris winced, raising an arm, trying to protect herself from the fragments of ice that went flying every which way. When the debris settled she look up, gasping at the large angry dragon that was growling menacingly at them.

"That-" growled Tifa. "Aeris, I'm going to distract it." Her hand left Aeris's shoulder as she suddenly charged forward at the beast. "Go help Cloud!" The flower girl started to protest but saw there was no point now that Tifa was sailing full tilt at the large dragon.

Aeris's quickly spun around, dashing across the ice towards Cloud, struggling to keep her feet from slipping. She screeched to a haul at his side, dropping down beside him. Without hesitating she raised a hand, calling on her healing powers.

The blond warrior let out a groan, opening his glowing blue eyes. "You alright Cloud?" asked Aeris anxiously.

"I've been better," he answered, slowly sitting up.

"Hold still a moment longer, and I'll have you completely healed up."

He was about to reply when Tifa gave a pained shout, causing him to snap his attention towards her. The marshal artist dug her feet into the ice as she slid backwards, wiping blood away from her face.

"Dammit!" she swore, "This thing's scales are too thick, I can't even scratch it!"

"Just keep it distracted a little longer!" shouted Aeris. "I'm almost done!"

"Will do!" yelled Tifa, charging straight at the dragon again. The beast roared at her, raising a clawed hand to attack.

"Tifa look out!" Cloud sprang to his feet, not caring in the slightest about his only half healed injuries. He raced blindly towards the fight, not noticing that the beast's fierce orange eyes were right on him. Tifa easily slid out of the way of its massive hand swung at her, only to catch sight of the dragon's tail heading straight for Cloud's exposed back. There wasn't any time to shout a warning to him. Time seem to slow down for a slit second for Tifa as the tail sailed toward the blond warrior.

"Protect!"

A glittering partly see-through shield appeared at the last minute around Cloud, saving him from the heavy blow. It tail bounced harmlessly away from him, making it give an angry roar. Cloud smiled cockily at it, readying to cast his fire materia at it. He focused in on call forth the spell but before he could finish casting the beast had opened its mouth firing its frozen dragon breath at him.

He tried to dodge out of the way but the slippery ice gave him no traction. A yell escaped his lips as he tumbled over, the ice breath striking the majority of his right arm. He hit the ice hard, sliding towards the dragon's feet.

"Cloud!" yelled Tifa, launching herself at the creature, desperate to get it's attention away from the blond lying prone between its feet.

Cloud gritted his teeth, focusing once again on the low level fire materia. He raised his hand, casting the spell directly at the creature's eyes. The dragon screamed, shaking its head wildly, stumbling backwards into a wall. Cloud gave a heavy sigh, letting his head fall back against the ice, only to see Aeris already kneeling over him, her face pale.

He gave her a weak smile even as she asked, "How bad is it?" She gently tugged his right arm toward her, all the while keeping an eye on the dragon that was far too close for comfort. Cloud merely grimaced at her touch, not trusting his voice to hide exactly how much it hurt. "Hold still while I try to heal it." She took a deep breath, whispering a spell under her breath. A green glow appeared around her hand, creeping over his arm, healing the flesh. A moment later she was done, rising to her feet again, fully focused on their enemy once more. "Come on, we need to help Tifa."

Said marshal artist was trying to get close to the dragon to land a solid hit, but the beast failing its limbs wildly made it impossible. The dragon's eyes were shut tight from when Cloud had burned them with the materia.

Tifa ducked under one of its hands, only to roll out of the way as its tail came close to striking her. There didn't seem any chance of her getting remotely close to it. That's when Cloud decided to step up.

"Hey over here you stupid lizard!" he bellowed, chucking a piece of ice at it to get its attention. The creature whipped its head around, opening its mouth wide.

Tifa didn't let the chance pass, summoning most of her power, she raised her fists. With a yell, she pounded the creature, jumping upward as the dragon tried to take a swipe at her. She somersaulted in the air, bringing her foot down on the beast but as she swung around to give it her trade mark waterkick, its clawed hand came out of no where right at her.

"Tifa!" screamed Cloud. Time seemed to slow down to almost nothing as the hand struck her, sending she falling backward, impacting heavily with the ice. "Tifa!" She didn't reposed, let alone make any move to rise again. His temper snapped then, blue eyes glowing eerily in the low lighting. "Damn you!" he roared, charging blindly forward.

He never heard Aeris's panicked cry to stop, or even when the dragon swung its head around, mouth open wide. Tifa, his childhood friend was hurt. Darkness filled the edge of his vision, ears ringing loudly in his head. The world slipped, and sent him wordlessly tumbling into darkness.

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She was resting against something warm. It felt soft against her cheek, making her wonder what it was. The gentle swaying motion, she noticed next, made her realize she was being carried on someone's back and her head was resting most likely on their shoulder. But who was it?

Her eyes slowly fluttered open, revealing an incline they were currently moving down, snow drifting lazily around them. She shifted her head, staring right back into the face of the person carrying her. She smiled tiredly at him.

"Hello," she greeted.

Cloud gave a relieved sigh, the single action whipping away a bit of the exhaustion from his face. "How are you feeling?"

"I'll live," she glanced around again. "Where are we? What happened to the dragon?"

"Aeris managed to stop it by bring most of the cave roof down on it. She was pretty shook about having to deal with it on her own though." Tifa instantly noticed a tense note to his tone but before she ask him, he continued, "as to where we are, we're currently inside the crater."

There was a beat of silence before Tifa spoke again, "You look tired, Cloud. Put me down, I can walk for a while." He seem to hesitate but finally stopped, kneeling down so Tifa could climb off his back. "Thank you though, for carrying me this far." She smiled at him, which he returned.

"Just don't strain yourself, Tifa." He rose to his feet again, but as he did so, she caught sight of his hands.

"Oh my god! Cloud your knuckles!"

He shoved them into his pocket of his coat, blurting out as quickly as he could, "It's nothing. I'm alright really. Don't worry about it." She didn't listen to him for a second.

"Let me see them, and I'll be the judge of that," she replied sternly, daring him to refuse. His eyes glued themselves to the ground.

"I'm alright Tifa," he mumbled but he knew she'd already won. Reluctantly and already knowing her reaction, he removed his right hand from his pocket and gave it to her.

She sucked her breath in, making him inwardly cringe. "This is nothing Cloud?" He felt like a scolded child, and Tifa noticed that because her next words were softer. "What happened?"

He swallowed hard, studying the snow under foot. "I'm… not sure. I think I tried to punch it…"

"You tried to attack the dragon your bare hands!" Cloud winced at her exclamation. "Unbelievable. You haven't even used a cure spell either."

"I'm sorry but… you see, we only had one low level restore materia and… Aeris's used up all her healing powers earlier. She only had enough magic to heal one person and well… you were hurt far worse than I was Tifa." They were both silent for a moment, before she released his hand and started pulling at the straps of her fighter gloves. "Tifa?"

"Here." She removed the weapons from her hands, holding them out to him. "Take them."

Cloud was speechless for a moment. "Tifa… I couldn't-"

"Yes you can," she retorted. "You don't have any weapon here and you'll wreck your hands if you don't use gloves, so take them already."

"But I-"

"I have a spare pair that I can use, so don't worry." She pushed the gloves forward into his hands.

He sighed heavily. "Alright." Reluctantly he finally took them from her. He pulled them onto his hands, adjusting the straps to secure them.

"There we go, that wasn't too hard now was it?" she teased, "Come on, let's keep going."

"Okay," he answered. "Aeris's up ahead anyway." He hesitated, "And Tifa…" She paused, turning back towards him. "Thanks a lot." They continued down the incline, heading deeper into the North Crater. It was only several steps later that Cloud froze, his head suddenly snapping towards the sky high above them and slightly behind.

"What is it?" asked Tifa instantly.

"Weapon," he breathed. "It's almost on us. We don't have much time, come on!"

He charged down the path, Tifa close behind him. He was distracted though, she could easily tell, the Weapon was drawing his attention just like it had on the boat. She just hoped it didn't get as bad as last time, otherwise she and Aeris would have a difficult time trying to drag him and the black materia out of the crater while also trying to battle the Weapon off. They finally came to a stop once again on the platform where they fought Jenova. Aeris look up at them from the edge she'd been peering over anxiously.

"Weapon's almost here," he gasped, trying to catch his breath. He was bent over, weariness getting the better of him. "We don't have much time."

"Any luck on finding the black materia?" asked Tifa hopefully.

Aeris shook her head. "I don't see any sign of it." She gazed worriedly over at the blond but right now they had to job to do. "Cloud do you have any idea where it could be?"

He bit his lip, trying to slow his breath as he searched his memory for any trace of where the black materia could have gone. There was a flash of an image in his mind eyes, almost too quick for him register. It was gone again the next moment, but it left a strong impression where it was. "Lower." He forced himself to stand upright. "It's lower down, off in that direction." He waved his left hand vaguely to the far side of the platform. "I'm sorry that's the best I can do."

"It's better then no idea at all," answered Tifa, moving towards the edge.

Aeris joined her, gazing down into the pit below, the glowing lifestream just visible from where they stood. "I don't see any easy way down." Rocks still floated haphazardly in the air, a testament to what had dwelled there not too long ago.

"I can jump down and take a look," piped up Tifa. "It won't be too hard, mean while you two rest up. It won't to have all three of us exhausted when that Weapon finally gets here."

Aeris looked about ready to protest but Cloud cut her off. "Go Tifa. As it is, even if we headed back now Aeris, by the time we reach the top the Weapon will already be here. We might as well find what we came here to look for."

Aeris reluctantly nodded. "Just be careful Tifa."

"Don't worry, I'll be back with the materia before you know it." With that she turned her attention to the closeted rock. She examined the distance for a moment before backing up and taking a running leap at it. She sailed through the air and landed flawlessly. With a triumphant grinned, she turned back towards her two companions. "I'll be as quick as I can." She gave a slight wave before jumping to a lower rock, until she was out of sight.

With a sigh Cloud flopped down on the ground, resting his head against his arms, staring upward at the few snowflakes that were able to find their way inside the crater.

"What a day," he whispered, closing his eyes. "Weapon's almost here and-" He opened them again as he heard Aeris sit down beside him.

"And what?" she asked softly.

He looked away from her but answered all the same. "The dragon…" he hesitated before continuing. "We could… hardly beat it. How are we suppose to take on a Weapon?"

"It's coming none the less and if we want to get out of this crater we're going to have to fight it." She gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "There's no use worrying about it, Cloud. When it gets here, we will fight it."

"Right," he answered, his eyes starting to drift shut.

"Get some rest, you haven't slept in a long while." He gave a small sigh before relaxing completely. Aeris's smiled softly, brushing a strand of hair to the side of his face. All she could do now was stand guard, and wait, hoping Tifa found where the black materia was.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tifa was bent over slightly, trying to catch her breath before she tried making the jump to the next rock. She glanced absently over her shoulder, wondering how far she'd come. The platform where they'd fought Jenova was quite a ways above her now, blocking what little light that was able to filter down that far into the crater other than the eerie green glow that came from the lifestream.

She sighed heavily, his gaze falling to her bare hands. "So I lied," she whispered, rubbing her hands together to warm them up. Even this far down in the crater, it was still cold. She curled them into fists, studying her knuckles. Hers were fine, but Cloud's…

She bit her lip, shaking her head. She could easily make the extra pair she claimed to have. She didn't see what the problem was.

"Don't kid yourself Tifa. You lied to him, even if you did it to get him to take the gloves."

She shook her head, clearing away her thoughts. There wasn't time for thinking like that, she needed find the black materia. She set her sights on the next part of her path. After a deep breath, she backed up, readying to make her next jump. She just started forward, when her PHS's ring tone went off. She stumbled, trying to screech to a halt before she went off the edge of the floating rock. She teetered dangerously for a long moment, before she had enough balance to back away.

She gave a relieved sigh, bending over slightly, her PHS still jangling loudly in her pocket. She's forgotten the thing was even there in her pocket. She pulled it out, flicking it opening so she could answer the call. The sound of static was heavy on the line as she placed it gently beside her ear.

"Hello?" she asked slowly, unsure who would be calling her. A crackled voice spoke before the line went dead. The two little words spoken, making her heart stopped.

"No way…" she breathed, her hands trembling. A scream broke through her shock, bringing her back to the reality. Her head snapped upward to the platform. "Oh no." That was Aeris's voice. "No no no."

Without thinking she dropped her PHS, racing across the rock and flinging herself onto the stone from the way she'd come. She needed to get back up there now. She scrapped her knees painfully on the jagged stone as she landed badly but that didn't stop her.

She was on her feet again in seconds, jumping to the next one. She needed to get back to the others. Those two little words she'd heard before the phone line went dead, scared her more than anything. They played over and over again in her mind beating loudly in time with her heart.

"Jenova's back."


	9. Ch9 A Fight

_Flower petals slowly fell from the sky like snowflakes, drifting silently past him, before being destroyed instantly by a sea of blue flames that stretched out as far as he could see. Only the small dais upon which he stood provided any protection from the raging fire. _

_A heavy blade was held firmly in his hands, raised above his head ready to strike the young girl lost in prayer, kneeling at his feet. Her head was bowed, eyes lightly shut, not realizing the danger that hovered so close to her. _

_He fought tooth and nail, trying to hold back the sword that was desperately trying to end her life. A soft hiss of a voice whispered in his ear, telling him to kill her before it was too late. The command rattled in his brain, making muscles strain as half of them struggled to comply, while the others fought to hold the blade off._

_There was a flicker of movement in the corner his eye, the sea of flames parting to reveal the dark figure, invisible eyes locked upon him. The command came again, more forceful this time, making his left hand tug harder at the sword._

_"No," he hissed, tightening his right hand, hauling the sword backwards. "I won't!" The blade shook violently above his head, the silent command to kill her ringing louder in his ears. _

_Pain shot up his right arm, making him wince, as he struggled in what he was starting to realize was a loosing battle. The sword was starting to inch forward, it wouldn't be long before it struck its target._

_He opened his mouth to shout a warning but no sound escaped his lips. He couldn't warn her, couldn't tell her to get out of the way. The petals began to swirl around him, spinning as though caught in a tornado. His arms shook, as he forced his eyes shut, he couldn't watch. With a lurch, his right hand finally gave out, bringing the blade down._

"Cloud stop!"

Two hands roughly clamped down on his arms and the next thing he knew he was on his back, something harshly yanked out his grip. It took several longs moments for his disoriented mind to realize who it was that was pinning him.

"Tifa…?" he asked with confusion. The martial artist was breathing heavily, a clear look of fear on her face. "W-what?" His eyes caught a flicker of movement, making him turn his head, Aeris had sunk to her knees, trembling in fear on the edge of the platform, a huge icicle only a few feet away from her. Cloud felt the colour drain from his face. "What," he breathed.

"You almost hit her," Tifa told him quietly, finally releasing her hold of him. He sat up shakily, glancing towards Aeris before shame made him look away. "You alright Aeris?"

The flower girl swallowed hard. "I-I'll live," she answered after a slight pause.

Tifa nodded, turning her attention back to the blond. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder, only to make him jump violently. "Sorry," he whispered, placing a hand over his face. "I don't understand… what just-" Tifa's hand tightened on his shoulder, she had to tell him. After what happened last time, she couldn't keep something this large from him. He looked up at her. "Tifa?"

She swallowed hard, meeting his gaze as steadily at she could. "You're not going to like this Cloud," she began softly, her hand never leaving his shoulder. "I just got a call from Vincent, he said…" she hesitated, swallowing hard before finally completing her thought, "he said Jenova's back." All the remaining colour in his face instantly vanished. He sat there eerily silent, not moving a muscle. "Cloud?"

That snapped him out of his dazed state. He placed a hand against his forehead, a gesture Tifa was all too familiar with from their travels. "I should have known," he growled with frustration. "The dark figure, surrounded by flames, I should have known!" He practically yelled the last few words, starting Tifa.

"It's alright Cloud," Aeris spoke, finally moving towards them. She knelt down on his other side. Tifa gave the other girl a questioning look, not completely understanding what he was talking about.

Cloud must have caught the look because he spoke again, face once again hidden behind his hand. "I-I've been dreaming… and there's been a figure, cloaked in shadows, I-I think its Jenova." The two girls exchanged worried looks over Cloud's head. But before anything else could be said, he suddenly sucked his breath in, head snapping upward.

"What is it?" asked Aeris with alarm.

"Weapon," he breathed, eyes not focused as though they were staring through the rock to the sky.

Tifa felt her stomach drop like a led balloon. "What are we going to do?" her voice shook ever so slightly.

Aeris rose to her feet, hands curling into loose fists at her side. "You didn't find the black materia, did you." Tifa gravely shook her head. "Then I guess there's no choice, I'll use my limitbreak again."

Tifa paled. "No wait!" both she and Cloud shouted at the same time.

Though the martial artist continued, "We're only using that as a last resort, alright?" There was no way she wanted to find out the limit of how many times they could use it before- she swallowed hard. "We can defeat it without resorting to that."

"How?" asked Aeris, "We don't even know what Weapon it is."

"It's Ultimate Weapon," Cloud suddenly spoke up, eyes never leaving the invisible pact he was staring at.

"Our odds of winning against that are slim to none Tifa," continued Aeris grimly.

"We have to try," answered Tifa steadfast. "Even if in the end we have to use your limitbreak, we have to try first. There's so many Weapon's out there and if all it does is scare them away and we keep using it, we're going to find the limit, Aeris, and that isn't something I want to do."

"Right," she answered softly. She turned her attention back to Cloud. "Can you stand alright?"

He blinked, finally focusing on them again. "I think so…" he rose to his feet, gently testing to see if he was steady. "It doesn't seem to be effecting me as bad as last time." He smiled ever so slightly at that.

Tifa nodded, "Then lets go get ride of the Weapon and then continue our search for the black materia."

They made their way quickly to the top of the crater, standing on the rim. The wind howled around them, blowing the falling snow every which way.

"Where is it?" yelled Aeris over the gale.

"There!" Cloud pointed towards a massive black shape coming out of the sky straight towards them. Cloud's eyes narrowed as he concentrated on his low level fire materia, casting the spell at the diving Weapon. It jerked back violently, thus avoiding the flames. It let loose an ear splitting screech as it wheeled around, looping around them.

"Look out!" yelled Tifa as it suddenly swung around, mouth wide open, letting out a great blast of energy. The three party members scattered to avoid the incoming blast. The energy ball exploded upon impact with the ground, sending bits of rock flying every which way and it left a sizeable crater in its wake.

"This is more insane then fighting that dragon!" yelled Cloud, casting another fire spell to scare the Weapon out of diving at them again. If Weapon got a good run at them and managed to knock them off- Cloud didn't want to think about how long a way down it was.

Weapon let out a bellowing roar, its eyes fixing onto Aeris. It curled its wings in, dropping like a bomb at her. Cloud called forth another fire spell but instead of veering away like the Weapon had before, it took the brunt of the weak fire attack, continuing in its deadly dive towards the flower girl.

"Aeris watch out!" yelled Cloud. Weapon snapped its wings out at the last second, swooping mere meters above their heads, the resulting wind from its wings knocking them off their feet. "Aeris!" The flower girl yelped, loosing her foot. "Look out!" She was too close to the edge of the crater, with nothing to stop her from falling. "Aeris!" He lunged forward, grabbing hold of her hand just as she was about to plummet off the side. "I've got you!"

There was a roar from above them, making Cloud snap his head up. He gasped, Weapon was coming in for another dive at them. He cursed, struggling to pull her up with his left hand, which was the only thing keeping her from tumbling into the mists far below.

But as he tried to haul her up, a spasm went through his arm. His eyes went wide, "no," he breathed, "no way." On their own accord his fingers loosened, letting Aeris's hand slip from his own. Her green eyes went wide, staring right into his own, her mouth slightly parted though no sound escaped her lips. Her hand was still stretched out before her, reaching for him even though in a few seconds times she would out of arms length. He'd let her fall.

"NO!"

Before he even realized what he was doing, he was flat on his stomach, snatching hold of her with his right hand, crushing her wrist to make sure nothing forced him to let her go again. He didn't care if Weapon struck them both, there was no way in hell he was going to be responsible for her death. She stared up at him wordlessly, her own hand clinging tightly to him.

There was a challenging battle cry, making them both turn to see Tifa speeding towards them, fists wrapped tightly in some torn cloth. Her eyes were set on the Weapon coming quickly towards, her face set in an expression Cloud easily recognized. She was going to protect them with all her worth.

"Final Heaven!" she bellowed, just as she jumped upward. Extra power exploded around her, allowing her to sail towards the Weapon. She struck out at the creature with all her might. Flames leapt at the creature around her, not doubt Cloud trying to help. But as she continued through the steps of her attack, the flames grew passed even that of what the third level of the fire materia could produce.

The creature gave a mighty shudder, roaring out with a sound that grew more and more high pitch. Tifa gasped, eyes going wide, realizing a second before it happened what the creature was doing. It tumbled downward like a rock, skin glowing, it struck the rock side below Cloud and Aeris.

"Look out!" screamed Tifa, unable to do anything but warn them. The weapon exploded, destroying half the mountainside, and sending all three of them flying with it.

-----------------------------

Believe it or not, I actually wrote most of this story before AC was out, and before I'd even seen it. Amazing how I keep seeing parallels between the two though.

I know this chapter is on the short side, and I do apologies for that, but it seemed like the perfect place to break. Next one will be much longer, so no worries!

Till then!


	10. Ch10 Decisions

Tifa groaned softly, rocks and loose dirt falling from her as she slowly pushed herself up. She winced, her body feeling like one big bruise. She pushed herself to her feet, slowly looking around. She was on top of the crater still, though now lying on the inside sloped that lead down into the caverns below.

Taking a deep breath of the chill air, she began to move back to towards the top. Snow fell lightly around her, the only thing moving other than herself in the still silence of the mountaintop. The light was starting to fade, meaning evening was upon them already.

The chard ground crunched below her feet, the burn marks growing worse as she reached the top. She came to a stop, eyes going wide as she surveyed the damage rot by the Weapon exploding.

Half the outside of the crater on the side it fell was completely gone, most likely avalanched down the side to the bottom. She swallowed hard, hoping to whatever spirit was listening that the slide hadn't taken Cloud or Aeris with it.

She cupped her hands to mouth, taking a deep breath. "Aeris!" she yelled into the wind. "Cloud!" Her voice echoed around her eerily. "Can you hear me!"

"Tifa!"

She whirled around, to see Aeris limping slightly towards her, waving a hand over her head. "Aeris," she rushed over to the other girl. "Are you alright? Do you know where Cloud is?"

The flower girl bent over slightly, trying to catch her breath. "I've been better but none the worse for wear," she smiled a little but it quickly fell off her face again. "I don't know where he's gone. I hope he's alright."

"I think it'll take more than just this to get rid of him," answered Tifa with a tiny smile. "You made it through all right, there's no way Cloud wouldn't have. He's too stubborn to die for one."

Aeris chuckled slightly at that. "Isn't that true." She straightened herself, letting her eyes drift over the landscape around them. "The question now is, where _did_ he go?"

"We'll just have to split up and look," replied Tifa. "I'll check around the inside of the crater, you check up here, stay in shouting distance and don't wander too far."

Aeris nodded. "Oh," exclaimed the flower girl, "here, take this with you." She pulled out the restore materia, handing it to Tifa. "Shout if you find him, and be careful."

"I will," assured Tifa. She gave a wave as she turned, jogging over the lip of the crater and started descending the path a ways. "Alright Tifa where would he have fallen?" she asked herself quietly, glancing back up at the rim. "The Weapon fell below him so he couldn't have gone off the edge the other way… I hope. It is possible he did if he was caught in the avalanche." She shook her head fiercely. "Don't think like that. Don't think like that, he'll be alright, you'll see."

She took a deep breath, once again focusing on the paths around her. She had started wandering down a path that led her closer to the crater side. She didn't get more then a few steps when there was a thud from behind her. Tifa whirled around, gasping at what she saw. Cloud lay across the path facing towards her, struggling feebly to rise again.

"Cloud!" she rushed forward, dropping to his side. "Hold on, I'll have you healed up in a minute." She took a deep breath, concentrate on the restore materia.

"That's you, right… Tifa?"

She blinked, loosing her concentration at the strange tone Cloud's voice had. "Cloud?" she asked slowly, worry creeping into her voice. He offered her a weak smile but didn't say anything. She shook herself mentally, slightly unnerved by the way he was acting.

"Tifa… take this." He struggled to lift his arm, holding his hand out to her.

She breathed in sharply. "The black materia…" She looked up at him. "Where did you-"

"Look after it, and make… su..re… n….o…" his words trailed out as he slumped forward, face first into the ground.

"Cloud!" She cursed herself for not acting sooner. She cast a string of cure spells, not stopping until she was certain he was back to almost full health. After that she finally sat back, slowly letting her breath out. Her eyes fell to the black stone he was still gripping tightly. She leaned forward, gently prying his fingers away and took the black materia from him.

Before she could do anything else however, there was a rush of feet coming down the path towards her. She quickly turned around, only to find Aeris running as quickly as she could towards the martial artist. "Is he alright?" she shouted.

"He is, don't worry," answered Tifa as the other girl drew up beside her. "I thought it would be best to let him rest for now."

Aeris nodded, "That's good," she answered, clearly relieved. She turned away from the blond. "As for us, we should probably follow his example." Tifa laughed at that. "Come on, let's set up a tent here."

'_What are you doing?'_

_He froze, the cold voice scaring him more then anything else could. Flower petals fell thickly around him, shrouding the world around him better then a fog. He could sense things moving through the petals, some brushing all too close to where he stood frozen._

'_You were to give it to me.'_

_He tried to bolt, to flee as fast and as far from that place as he could but his feet wouldn't budge. His right arm on its own accord suddenly twitched and began to rise. _

'_Where is it?'_

_The voice rang through his head like a bell, making it impossible to resist. He cried out, horrified when he realized he had no control over his arm. "Let go!" he yelled, "let go!"_

'_Where did you put it?' _

_He was on puppet strings again. A pull here and a twist there and there was nothing he could do but be pulled along like a marinate. His fingers curled slowly against his will, pointing straight ahead of him. A heavy wind blew, throwing the petals apart, revealing the black materia floating ominously before him. _

_He felt sick._

_The ground shattered like glass below his feet. He made no move to escape as the puppet strings tightened around his limbs like barbed wire, forcing him down into the dark waters. He stared upward, as he was dragged down into the ice cold depth, trying to catch his last glimpse of sky. High above, gazing back at him the dark figure stood on the edge of the hole. He shut his eyes not wanting to see, though the voice still echoed eerily through his mind._

'_Well done, my puppet.'_

Cloud woke with a start, sweat running freely down his face, but utterly glad to be awake again. He sat up, burying his face in his hands, trying to shake the dread building in his heart.

"Morning!" Cloud nearly jumped out of his skin at that. "You alright Cloud?" asked Tifa quietly, moving farther into the tent that he was currently occupying.

"Just… give me a minute," he answered.

She nodded, leaving the tent again. She and Aeris had managed to build the surrounding path into quite a nice little campsite. Aeris was currently sitting by a small fire they'd created, cooking breakfast on it. Tifa sat quietly down beside the other girl and true to his word, a minute later Cloud showed up, looking slightly more composed.

"How you doing?" asked Tifa as he sat down between her and Aeris.

He shook his head before answering, "I've been better." He was silent for a moment, accepting the porridge like substance Aeris handed him. The two girls dug in but Cloud continued to play absently with his. "Tifa," he began, making her look up. "If- if you're going to carry the black materia… you're going to have to be extremely careful." His voice was only a whisper at the end.

Tifa didn't have a chance to reply. "You found it?" exclaimed Aeris with surprise.

Tifa nodded, "Well Cloud did, where though I don't know."

Aeris let out a sigh of relief. "I was afraid we'd never find it. Now all we have to do is get it to Mideel and destroy it in the lifestream there."

"Can't we just throw it in the lifestream here?" asked Tifa, taking a bit of her breakfast.

"The lifestream here is too sullied by the actions of Sephiroth and Jenova," replied Aeris grimly. "It makes our job a lot harder sadly."

"Alright, after breakfast we'll pack up here and head out," declared Tifa. Cloud set his uneaten breakfast down, rising to his feet. "Cloud?"

"I'm not going with you."

"What? Why?" demanded Tifa, making Cloud look away from her.

"It's because of Jenova," answered Aeris quietly.

"That's right," he replied. "Jenova still has some level of control over me and I don't want to put any of you in anymore danger. She's already has control over the Weapons, you can't fight one of those while trying to keep an eye on me as well."

"The Weapons!" exclaimed Tifa.

He nodded grimly. 'That's why they're coming after us like this. Jenova wants the black materia and right now I don't think I could stop her Tifa." The fear was visible on his face. "I don't want to hurt either of you."

"I understand that Cloud… but we're in the middle of the North Crater surrounded by ice sheets, this just isn't the right place to split ways. If… if something happened to you Cloud, there's no one here that could help you."

"She's right you know," agreed Aeris in her quiet tone. "Please at least come with us as far as town, we can part ways there, and that way our minds will be at ease that you're not out here all alone."

"It's a bad idea if I travel with you," argued Cloud.

"It's a bad idea either way, Cloud," answered Aeris. The two girls started him down and finally he relented though clearly not happy about the idea. They finished eating in silence, clearing up their things before once again setting out to scale down the side of crater to the bottom. The trip back seemed far quicker with them arriving outside the small wooden house, where they decided to stop for the evening. The light was already starting to fade, making the temperature plummet even more.

They went in, the old man greeting them warmly, inviting them to stay the night. After they settled in, Aeris went to help him prepare dinner, leaving Tifa and Cloud sitting alone by the fire. She sat opposite him, watching him quietly as he stared off into the flicker flames.

"Cloud?" she began after a long moment, drawing his attention. "I… uh…" She blushed slightly, gaze falling to her hands. "I'm glad you're alright…" she hesitated. "I was worried… when we couldn't find you." The fire cracked loudly beside them but neither really noticed. "So much… so much as happened these last few days," she finally looked up at him. "And now… now we only have a little ways to go." They gazed at each other for a moment. "Once the black materia is destroyed I'll come back and help you find Jenova."

He gave her a tiny smile, gratitude shining brightly in his eyes. "Thanks Tifa, I really appreciate it." She retuned the smile. "I just wish…" he trailed off, shaking his head.

"What?" she asked softly.

"That it didn't have to go like this."

They both looked away at that, unable to meet the other's eyes. "There's still a ways yet to go before we reach town. I… I know you're scared Cloud… I am too."

"I let go of Aeris because of her."

"What?"

"Jenova, she did something to my arm, made me let Aeris go up on the crater when Weapon was attacking," answered Cloud darkly. "Jenova's already made me into her puppet."

"Cloud you can't-"

"She's proven the point several times already and she knows you're carrying the black materia Tifa, I'm a liability now. I can't… I can't…"

Tifa rose from where she sat, moving to sit beside the blond. "Listen up Cloud," she took his hands in her own, "you're one of the strongest people I know and I won't forgive you ever, if you dare go down without a fight."

A flicker of a smile crossed his face, his hands tightening around hers. "I promise you I will fight, but if I loose… Tifa I want-"

"If that happens Aeris and I will do everything in our power to destroy Jenova and set you free, so don't you dare give up."

He was silent for a long moment before he finally agreed. "Alright."

"Good," grinned Tifa, rising to her feet. "I bet dinner's almost ready by this point."

"You go on ahead," Cloud told her. "I'll be out there in a few minutes."

"Okay." She smiled at him, thinking nothing of his comment. Fifteen minutes went by and when he didn't show, Tifa came back, hollering, "Cloud the food's getting cold, what are you-" she entered the living room, only to find it completely empty, "doing?" She stepped farther into the room puzzled. "Cloud?" She moved back into the hallway, wondering where he'd gone. As she turned to go back down the hallway she caught sight of the entrance, two sets of boots, two coats, and one set of each missing.

"Oh no," she breathed. "Aeris!" She turned on her heels, flying down the hall. "Aeris, he's gone!"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The wind howled wildly around him, whipping snow into his nearly frozen face. He struggled onward, wadding through the deep snow, squinting into the growing darkness.

He shivered, pulling his winter coat more tightly around himself. He needed to keep going and put as much distance between him and the cabin. Aeris and Tifa, no doubt, had discovered he was gone by now.

…_Cloud!_

He froze dead his tracks, heart pounding. No way, there was no way that could be-

Highly pitched amused laughter rang out around him, a clear taunting lit to it. The wind wailed passed him, carrying the single word he breathed. "Jenova…"

-----------------------------

What can I say, I'm quite pleased with what I've written for this chapter. Did some major editing from the original version though, which has left me sitting on a fence on exactly who I'm going to pair Cloud up with or if I'm going to pair him up with anyone at all? Any preferences out there at all? Speak now or forever hold your peace!

Anyway, that's it for now, till next time!


	11. Ch11 A Problem

The wind howled fiercely in their ears, whipping snow passed them as they moved along, shouts barely audible. "Cloud!" yelled Aeris as loudly as she could.

"Cloud!" echoed Tifa, hands cupped to her mouth. She hoped for an answer but once again none came. She let her hands fall away from her face as she began moving again. "That idiot," she muttered to herself. "What is he thinking going off on his own at a time like this! I can't believe him. When I get my hands on him…" she trailed out, staring out into the growing darkness. She drew a deep breath, shouting out into the winter night. "Where are you, you stupid spiky haired jerk!"

Aeris couldn't help the small smile that spread across her face. "You're not going to convince him to come out if you call like that."

"I know, I know," sighed Tifa. "It's just…"

"He'll be fine, so don't you worry." Aeris gave her an encouraging smile.

"I hope so," she answered. "I can't believe he did something like this."

Aeris nodded, searching the landscape around them. She could just make out the cave they'd stayed the night in, right before they'd noticed Weapon on their tail. "We got to be getting close to him," she whispered, though Tifa heard her. She turned about to call out again, when she caught sight of a lump in the snow. No way, it couldn't be-

She raced forward, dropping to her knees as she began to throw snow every which way. "Tifa!" she cried, but the other girl was already rushing to her side. "I found him!" From the small patch of snow Aeris had dug away, Cloud's face was visible, unconscious and looking alarmingly pale.

"We've got to get him out of this," Tifa gestured to the weather around them. She bent down quickly, helping Aeris dig the blond warrior out of the snow.

"The cave we stayed in is just over there," the flower girl said after a moment, grabbing hold of one of Cloud's arms. She stood, pulling him towards the cavern. Without a word, Tifa grabbed his other arm, helping her out.

Between the two of them, they'd managed to drag him out of the snow and into the large cave. Tifa immediately went to start a fire while Aeris tried to do what she could for him. As soon as the fire was going, Tifa was back at Aeris's side.

"How is he?" she whispered.

Aeris looked up at her, worry visible in her eyes. "I don't know," she replied truthfully. "There's nothing wrong with him."

"You don't think… Jenova did this?"

"It's a very likely possibility, and one I don't like in the least." Tifa couldn't agree more with that.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_He was drowning. Water filled his lungs, pressing in around him from all sides. He struggled to find the surface, but the flower petals swirling around him, made it impossible to see. All sense of direction was lost as he thrashed wildly with dwindling strength._

_He needed to breathe._

_He twisted madly, beyond desperate to find a way out. A second later though and the last of the air he'd been holding onto escaped from his lungs, rising in small shimmering bubbles before his closing eyes. His body was heavy, no longer responding to him, as he began to sink into the murky depths._

_So this is how it was going to end…_

_A crushing grip enclosed around his left arm, yanking him roughly… somewhere. He didn't have time to register the direction, because the next instant he was on all fours, coughing violently, gagging on the water he'd swallowed._

_His body shook uncontrollably, wet blond hair hanging in his eyes. It was a long while before his breathing was under control again and he could clearly see the ground below him. _

_He breathed in sharply, wincing as it hurt his throat. He was staring at what appeared to be a bottomless sea filled with flower petals. He was kneeling on water, which rippled lightly around him, holding his weight as though it were solid. His reflection was completely surrounded by a storm of petals, but none existed above the water where he was currently kneeling._

_A flicker of movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention, making him snap his head around. His stomach lurched as he stared up at the dark figure. He could feel the other's cold eyes on him, holding him in place. He shut his eyes, left arm feeling like ice. There was no place for him to escape. The dark figure- __Sephiroth__- Jenova had him._

_"Someone help me."_

He gave a strangled gasp, his body feeling like it was on fire. "Cloud!" exclaimed Aeris. His eyes slammed shut again, but he could hear her rushing his to his side.

"Hold still, Cloud," her soft voice told him. "I'm going to try to help." He felt her warm hands gently brush his cheeks, transferring a soft warmth to him, easing the pain away.

He gave a tiny sigh, relaxing back into what felt like a sleeping bag. He let a few minutes pass before trying to open his eyes again, blinking slowly as he gazed up the ceiling of the cave. A single petal fluttered passed his vision, making him blink again, only to find Aeris leaning over him anxiously.

"Hey," he greeted quietly, not sure what else to say.

Aeris gave a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness you're alright." An uncharacteristic frown appeared on her face then, directed right at the blond. "What were you thinking! Do you realize how worried we were!" She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "You shouldn't have run off like that Cloud… things could have been a lot worse. You could have…"

She couldn't finish the sentence, but Cloud had no problem in doing so. "Died?" a rueful expression on his face. "Jenova wouldn't let me."

"Cloud…" she reached out a hand to him but he instantly jerked away.

"She won't let me leave, Aeris," he warned. "I-I can't trust myself… I might-" he cut himself off, suddenly finding he couldn't speak the word. "I would never be able to live with myself if I ended up hurting either you or Tifa."

Before the flower girl could reply however, Tifa entered the cave from outside. "Cloud!" she exclaimed with relief, rushing forward. "How are you feeling?"

"You two need to continue on without me," he continued what he'd been saying to Aeris.

"Cloud, we can't," protested the flower girl.

While Tifa said at almost the exact same time, "We agreed to part ways at the nearest village, not in the middle of no where."

"I won't hold to that," snapped the blond.

"Why not?" retorted the martial artist.

"Because something might happen!"

"And the same can be said for you!" Cloud was silent to that statement so Tifa pressed her advantage. "How do you think we would feel if something happened to you while you were out here by yourself?"

"But-" he began to protest.

"We can look after ourselves Cloud, and if something does happen while you're still traveling us, we'll stop you. Now that we know Jenova is back and what she's capable of, there's no way she can catch us off guard."

Cloud sighed, shoulders slumping, he knew he shouldn't agree but… he was just tired of arguing with them. "Alright," he relented. "But I'm only traveling as far as the nearest town."

"And that's good enough for us," replied Aeris.

After that they went about things normally, eating a quick breakfast by the fire before gathering their things and once again heading out into the snow. The weather was still gloomy as they traveled southward back towards town. The wind wasn't much of a problem once they got out of the planes, but the snow, which was more like hail, was making traveling difficult.

Currently the trio stood in the middle of a pine forest, staring at the small map that had been given to them the first time they'd come north, and were currently trying to figure out for the life of them where they were. Cloud stood between them, the map held in his hands, as he stared at it, occasionally flipping it one way and then the other in the faint hope that it would make more sense in some other direction.

"I don't have any idea where we are," he finally admitted in defeat, passing the map to Aeris. "By the way I'm reading it, we should be there by now."

Aeris glanced over at him, "I don't think it's to scale."

"Maybe we should just pick a direction and head that way," suggested Tifa. The flower girl shrugged, handing the map back to the blond.

"Might as well," replied Cloud.

"Alright then," declared Aeris, clapping her hands together. "Which way should we go?" She scanned the small clearing around them with an overly serious expression. "How about…" She raised her hand above her head, pointing towards the sky. "That way!" She declared, swinging her arm down and to her right, pointing passed Cloud.

Tifa gave an amused laugh. "Sure, why not." Aeris grinned, taking the lead with Cloud coming behind her and Tifa in up the rear.

The marshal artist sighed quietly to herself, pulling her hood more closely around her face, trying to stop the stinging ice pellets from hitting her skin. She really didn't like this type of weather. She looked up when Cloud all of a suddenly came to a stumbling stop.

"Cloud," she asked worriedly, moving towards him, "what is it?" The second after the words left her mouth, he lashed out at her. It was only her training that saved her, ducking under his attack before retreating back to gain some space. "Cloud!" she shouted, a chill running down her spine as his dead eyes locked on her, face utterly expressionless. "Cloud!" He lurched forward, charging at her, fists already clenched.

His attack was wild, fast and as she discovered after struggling to block several more of his blows, unpredictable. She gritted her teeth, fighting to keep one step ahead in her defense. He twisted around, trying to roundhouse kick her, forcing Tifa to jump away to avoid being hit. "Cloud snap out of it!" she yelled at him desperately. He slowly set his foot back in the snow, lowering his stance, fists raised. "Cloud!" But her voice didn't elect any reaction out of him as he launched himself at her again. Her expression hardened, hands tight in fists before her.

"Forgive me," she breathed, before letting loose a battle cry. She charged forward, ready to meet him head on. He wasn't responding to her so the best she could do for now was incapacitate him before he hurt someone. He was still wearing her best set of gloves, reminding her to be all the more careful.

She ducked under a blow, slamming her fist full force into his chest before weaving out of the way of another kick. She hopped back, fists raised before lunging forward again, aiming for his jaw.

He blocked her hand, knocking her fist away before taking a swing at her, which she easily sidestepped, taking aim for his jaw again. She expected him to counter again but was surprised when he didn't. Her fist connected with his face and a second later his own left hook was coming straight at her.

She twisted out of the way, wincing as his gloved hands scrapped across her cheek. She stumbled as she retreated, never taking her eyes off him. He gazed blankly at her, simply standing opposite her with his arms causally at his side. She wasn't fooled though. She dropped into her fighting stance once again, fists ready, her eyes trained on the blond opposite her.

He was breathing heavily, she noticed before there was a flicker of an expression on his face, that made it look like he was in excruciating pain. She swallowed hard, trying to put it out of her mind. "You can't win against me, Cloud," she told him, voice steady in the cold air. Frozen rain crashed down around them, clattering loudly against the trees.

Cloud tensed, charging forward at her. Tifa readied herself, bring her fist back, ready to strike but he never got any closer. It happened in a flash, one minute he was coming at her and the next he'd collapsed to his knees, clutching his head.

"Cloud!" she shouted, hurrying forward, guard still up incase it was a trick.

He looked up, barely focusing on her, his blue eyes full of confusion. "Ti…fa…" His eyes slipped shut, as he collapsed face first into the snow, utterly still but the slow rise and fall of his chest.

"Cloud!" she shouted again, dropping to her knees beside him. "Aeris give me a hand!" But the flower girl gave no answer. "Aeris!" She turned her head towards where the other girl had been standing, only to find to her horror that no one was there. Aeris was gone without a trace.

ooooooooooooooooooo

Not really sure what to say about this chapter. I will apologies for the delay on updating though, took a little longer than I thought it would, though last month was completely hectic. I had at least three projects due each week and on top of that I directed my class's studio TV show. Whoo that was a lot of paper work to get ready. Things are just starting to settle down again though, which is really nice. I really need the break.

Thanks to my reviewers aerisxtifa and Bytemite!

**aerisxtifa: **I'd just like to start off by saying, thank you very much for the review, I quite enjoyed reading it. I really hate reading stories where Aeris and Tifa or whoever fight over Cloud as well so I really have no intention of doing that. I'm still thinking about it, and I think if I do pair them up it'll be quite light, probably won't even kiss. They are, after all, busy trying to save the world and all. Hope you enjoyed the newest chapter and thanks a bunch once again for the review!

**Bytemite: **It's always nice just hearing that I'm doing a good job. You're the first reviewer I've had since I started up this story again. So it's nice to know that I'm still doing a good job. I quite appreciate the advice that you've given. It does seem out of character for Tifa to be scared to tell him, but it does give some interesting things to play with for her character. I think I'm still undecided about the pairing, and I think even then I won't have all that much in the way of a romance, at least that's the way I'm leaning right now. Definitely won't have pinning (shudder) really can't stand that myself. And you do have a point about them even having time to get a full fledge romance going, what with trying to save the world again. Thank you ever so much for taking the time to review my fanfic, I really really appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed the newest chapter and thanks ever so much again!


	12. Ch12 Problems

_Silence. He hated silence. He hated the way it pressed almost painfully against his ears, a deafening roar that seemed to wrap around him, gripping tightly at his neck, trying to suffocate him._

_He always tried to fight against it, shouting, screaming and flailing his limbs, but every attempt was always thwarted, every sound he made eaten, leaving nothing behind but, once again, deadly silence._

_It seemed to hold him still like ice-cold hands, refusing to let him go, no matter how much he struggled. Its hold would always tighten, clenching, squeezing, breaking, destroying what little fight he had left._

_He always cried out then, knowing full well there were tears in his eyes. He'd tell himself to hold on just a little longer. Not to give up, not to let her win, for that was something he could never let happen._

_And sometimes, sometimes that would be enough. Enough to make a sound, a cry that was louder and the silence, a noise that would grow and grow, louder, stronger, resonating, instead of disappearing once again. Then everything would shatter, the sound of tinkling glass too loud but like music to his ears as he began to fall, escaping that silent place._

_Then he'd be lifted by his left arm, carried away from that horrible silent place. There would always be so much sound then, so much that it would be hard to hear it all. But there was one steady, one constant sound that he would hear through the noise, and if he waited long enough the words, the voice, what the other was saying would always become clear__**. **_

_"We're going to be in for some rough weather soon. Doesn't it figure the day we manage to escape it decides to rain on us? That's karma for you, though I don't have a clue what I did to deserve it. But we've been through worse, right Cloud?"_

_A small pause, but it's a safe one, filled with the gentle sound of wind._

_"I wish Hojo had been nice enough to leave some rain gear behind for us. Yeah, yeah, I know, bad joke right? Don't you worry about a thing, though. We're almost there. If we don't stop I bet we can make it before it starts to rain. It's about time we got some good luck, I think."_

___And he felt safe to agree with that, but as soon as he tried to speak, sound would betray them. Louder than a roar, deafening and impossible to hear his own scream over, that was how things ended, in a rain of water and metal, destroying everything around him._

He gasped, sitting bolt upright, slamming his hands over his ears, trying to block out the roar of gunfire, only to realize a second later that it was the sound of an engine. Slowly, almost fearfully, he lifted his hands slightly away, nervously cracking one of his eyes open.

He was in a metal room, which was vibrating ever so slightly. An airship, his mind supplied a few seconds later. The relief he felt at that realization left him giddy. He leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath, trying to slow his pounding heart.

He sat like that for a long while, making sure he wouldn't faint or anything, before finally opening his eyes once again. The cabin he was in was tiny, the bed he was currently occupying taking up a good amount of the space, leaving only a small amount of room before the door free to walk in. A porthole rested a few meter above the bed, rain pelting the glass, casting warped shadows across the room.

He turned away from that, only then noticing the slumbering person seated in a chair beside the bed. Before he could think of what to do, she stirred, sitting up, stretching her arms. She yawned loudly, before finally looking at him, and was surprised to find him looking back.

"Hey," Tifa greeted softly. "How you feeling?" He didn't answer though, his eyes locked onto the nasty bruise on her cheek. She placed her hand over it, hiding it from sight. "Don't worry about it, looks worse than it feels."

"What happened?" he asked quietly, finding he didn't have the energy to speak very loudly.

A look of surprise crossed her face before she swallowed hard, "I-I-" she stuttered, but Cloud had already figured it out.

He look away, whispering, "I'm responsible, aren't I."

She sighed quiet, staring down at her hands. "Yes," she answered after a moment. "You are. I don't blame you for it though, Cloud. It's all Jenova's fault." The anger was audible in her voice. She looked directly at Cloud. "She's the one who attacked us."

"Through me," he stated, sagging under that knowledge. "Now do you understand why it's too dangerous for me to be around?" Tifa began to protest again but he cut her off. "I could have killed one of you!"

Tifa scowled at him. "Don't hold your skills in that high a regard, Cloud, I can easily hold my own against you."

"That's only fighting hand to hand, Tifa and believe me when I say Jenova will find an advantage next time to stop you with. As long you're carrying that black materia Tifa, she'll throw everything she can at you. She's desperate to have it and you can't fight a battle on two fronts."

"What are we suppose to do then?"

Cloud gave a weary sigh, running a hand through his hair. "All I can say is that I should be left behind. Any other planning should be left between you and Aeris and out of my hearing range."

Tifa hesitated, but spoke. "This airship was called in by a hunting party that found us in the woods. They helped me carry you and… Aeris back to town."

"Aeris!?" exclaimed the blond with alarm. "What happened? Did I-"

Tifa shook her head. "No, no, nothing like that… but… Cloud., I… I'm worried about her. Back in the forest, while I had you occupied, she went to find help, and for some reason, collapsed just short of a group that helped us." She took a deep breath, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "She was awake earlier, but wasn't looking too good. I don't know what's wrong with her and she refused to tell me. I don't know what to think."

"Where is she now?" he asked worriedly, struggling to suppress a yawn.

"In the cabin next door, resting, like you no doubt should be." She rose to her feet. To her surprise he didn't complain, merely nodded his head. "I'll leave you be then."

She turned to leave but Cloud called softly after her. "Just keep an eye on her for now, if things don't improve try talking to her again."

She nodded, "Get some rest, Cloud." She turned to go again.

"Tifa." She paused in the doorway, looking back at him. "Thank you, for telling me. I… really appreciate it." She didn't know how to answer that so she simply nodded, before closing the door softly behind her.

She made her way to the cabin next door, intent on checking up on Aeris. She slid the door open, poking her head inside and was surprised to find the flower girl was awake, though still looking extremely pale. Aeris turned, smiling at her from where she sat on the edge of the bed.

"Tifa," she greeted, as the other girl slipped into the room, shutting the door behind her. "How's Cloud doing?"

Tifa sighed, flopping down on the end of the same bed Aeris was perched on. "Well, he finally woke up, though I told him to rest for a while longer. We still have a ways to go before we land, after all." She turned her attention to the other girl. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm good for the moment," she replied cheerfully.

The martial artist sighed, sitting up a little straighter. "Aeris, what happened to you back there?"

Aeris's cheeks turned pink and she looked away. "I'm sorry, I… was just trying to help, Tifa. When… Jenova took control of him, I thought…" she trailed out, staring intently at her hands.

Comprehension dawned on the martial artist. "You used that- that limitbreak again," she whispered horrified. "And you moved away so I wouldn't be effected by it. Aeris! You shouldn't have done that! That thing is way to dangerous to even use!"

"I couldn't just stand by and do nothing as he attacked you!" exclaimed Aeris. "It's my fault you two are in this to start with."

"Hey, it was our choice to come along. The way I remember it, you didn't get a say in the matter." Aeris smiled softly at that, almost looking sad. "Promise me you won't use that limitbreak again," begged Tifa. "You've only used it twice and you're not looking well as it is, the next time might end up killing you Aeris."

The flower girl bit her lip, nervously tugging at a blanket. "The only reason I'm alive right now, Tifa, is because the planet needed me to do this."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Tifa asked slowly, a frown on her face. The other didn't give her any answer though. "Aeris…" a fearful note came to Tifa's voice. "What's going to happen to you after you've finished this mission?" Utter silence met her question, making Tifa suddenly feel sick to her stomach. "Aeris?"

"This is why," answered the flower girl, voice barely audible. "This is why I didn't want either of you coming with me." Tifa could only stare at her, unable to find a single word to say. "I know I shouldn't ask this… but please don't tell Cloud."

The martial artist was on her feet in seconds. "You can't seriously be thinking of keeping this from him!"

"I've known this would happen from the start, Tifa."

"And you didn't say anything!" exclaimed the martial artist. "Why!? Why did you even bother showing up again? Why Aeris?" The words where out of Tifa's mouth before she'd even realized what she'd said. She winced, looking away, ashamed of what she'd said. "I'm sorry. I didn't… it's just…" She sighed, running a hand through her hair, turning back to Aeris, asking softly, "do you realize how much this is going to hurt?"

The flower girl was silent, studying her clasped hands on her lap. "Telling him is just going to hurt him more."

"As apposed to not telling him?"

Aeris's hands tightened, knuckles turning white, "It doesn't matter weather I tell him or not!" she shouted suddenly. "In the end the same thing is going to happen!"

"That's where you're wrong!" snapped Tifa. "If we put our heads together we might figure out some way of this! I'll tell you right now, Aeris, hiding something like this, is not a solution to anything. It's only going to end up making things worse in the end."

"How can it get any worse?" asked Aeris, voice watery. Tifa could already see the beginning of tears in the other girl's eyes. "No matter if we succeed in destroying the black and white materia or not, I'm going to die." She rose to her feet, facing Tifa straight on. "And that's not going to change, no matter what either of us do."

"You're just going to accept it?" asked Tifa weakly, unable to believe what she was hearing. "Just like that, when this is over, you're just going to go back to the lifestream? You're just going to give? I thought you were more of a fighter than that Aeris. I though-"

"Just stop it!" yelled Aeris with a ferocity that startled the other, tears were running down the flower girl's face as she rose to her feet, trembling.

Tifa took a step towards her friend. "Aeris, you can't just-"

"I've had enough!" cut off Aeris, pushing passed Tifa. "I don't want to think about it. Just- just leave me alone. I don't want to hear anymore." Before the martial artist could so much as protest, Aeris was out of the room, slamming the door forcefully in her face.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

This chapter was a lot of work, I kept changing that first little bit and I have to say that I'm quite pleased with the way it and the rest of the chapter for that matter, turned out. I didn't even realize how creepy that first bit could be until I was rewriting it for the 4th time.

Big thanks going out to all my reviewer!

**Aerisxtifa: **Don't worry, no problem (I've forgotten to log in a few times myself when reviewing) Well I have all intentions to try and finish this story off and with this chapter I yet another step closer. ) Thanks a bunch for the review and I hope you enjoyed reading the newest chapter!

That's it for now!


	13. Ch13 A Home

Tifa stood silently, leaning against the wall in the small airship cabin where she'd spoken to Aeris some while ago. She stared out the small porthole, watching as the land passed by far below them. Rain pattered against the glass, a soft tapping that was barely audible over the hum of the engines.

She'd already tried to find Aeris again, only to discover the flower girl was visiting with Cloud, and to her own surprise, she found that she just couldn't bring herself to disturb them. There was no way Aeris was going to tell Cloud what exactly the end of this mission meant, Tifa knew that without a doubt but for some reason… something held her back from marching right in there and blurting it all out.

She pressed her forehead against the glass window, sighing heavily. "Why would the planet do this?" she whispered softly, breath fogging up the glass. "It just doesn't make any sense to me. Why… why would she let the planet…" She fell silent again, staring out at the storm.

She wasn't even sure if she could bring herself to face the end of this mission anymore. Once the ship landed, they would split ways, leaving Cloud behind, while she and Aeris continued onto Mideel alone. The flower girl probably wasn't going to listen to reason, no matter what Tifa said. She refused to allow her friend to walk to her death without a fight, even if it meant destroying their friendship in the process. She swallowed hard, she just hoped that it wouldn't have to come to that.

There was a loud explosion, making her jump, as the airship suddenly tipped violently to the side. Tifa yelped as she started to slide across the room, sending her hurtling towards the far wall. The flying metal container barely righted itself, allowing her to catch her footing before she crashed into the side of the room. She didn't spare it any thought as she threw the door open, stumbling into the hallway as another explosion sounded, followed by a lurch as the airship plummeted belly first through the air.

She clung onto the doorframe, heart pounding, praying they would settle again before hitting the ground. Some higher being must have heard her because the next moment the ship leveled, but if the wheezing of the engines where any indication it was struggling to do so.

She quickly hurried to the room across the hall, throwing it open, only to discover that neither of her friends were there anymore. "Cloud! Aeris!" she yelled, wheeling around to face the corridor. "Where are you!" But there was no answer to her shouts. She rushed farther up the hall, not sure where to go. "Aeris! Cloud!" There was a loud boom from the back of the airship, and suddenly smoke was pouring into the passage. "Cloud! Aer-" The ship tilted violently to the side, as it rocketed towards the ground, and this time Tifa didn't catch herself in time.

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"Tifa! Say something! Tifa! Tifa!"

She groaned, opening her eyes, staring up into the dark misty canopy of trees above her head. Rain pattering lightly against leaves filled her ears, while cold drops fell upon her face. She blinked slowly, turning her head to the side to find Aeris and Cloud kneeling beside her.

"I think Yuffie had a good idea there," she commented quietly. "I'm _never_ riding on an airship again." Both gave a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness," breathed Aeris, brushing tears from her eyes. She looked a little worse for wear, as did Cloud for that matter, though if Tifa had to guess, her own appearance was probably the worse from their impact with the ground. Her head pounded as she struggled to sit up, ignoring her friends' protests as she did so.

She could just make out a large smoke cloud rising through the trees quite a distance away, the airship no doubt. There wouldn't be anything left of it judging by the size of that fire.

"What happened?" she asked, turning her attention to her companions. "I went looking for you two but you'd just disappeared."

The blond looked towards Aeris, an expression on his face that Tifa couldn't quite read. "Cloud sensed one of the Weapons before it attacked," answered Aeris, barely keeping her voice level. "We went to warn the helm but we weren't quick enough." She stared down at her hands, tears filling her eyes again. "The first strike hit the bridge… there was nothing I could…" she swallowed hard, bowing her head.

"This isn't your fault," Tifa told her, reaching out a comforting hand but Aeris pulled away from her, rising to her feet. Tifa gazed up at her, not sure how to react, while the flower girl refused to even meet her eyes.

Aeris frowned, just realizing then that Cloud was staring out into the woods, a grim expression on his face. "Cloud?" she asked quietly.

"There's something out there," he replied, never taking his eyes off the trees as he scanned them.

"Is it the Weapon?" Both girls dreaded the answer to that question.

He shook his head, rising slowly to his feet. "It's something else," he replied, turning his attention finally to his companions. "I think we should get out of here. Can you walk Tifa?" The martial artist nodded, accepting his help as he helped pull her up. He glanced around the silent forest again, unease growing. "Aeris can you help her? I'm going to take point."

"Right," answered the flower girl reluctantly. She pulled Tifa's arm over her shoulder to help the other girl along, but the martial artist could tell by body language alone that Aeris didn't want to speak to her. She sighed silently to herself, not saying a word.

They moved through the forest, trying to get as faraway from the wreck as they could and hoping to find some land marker to figure out exactly where they were now. The tree cover began to thin as they continued, and before all too long were nothing more then small bushes at their feet.

Tifa shivered as the full onslaught of rain hit them, squinting to see where they were going. Cloud had stopped dead a few steps ahead, his eyes fix on the landscape before them.

"What is it?" shouted Aeris over the wind.

He turned to face them, face utterly pale. "I- I know where we are," he answered. The girl's delighted expressions at that news were dashed as soon as he spoke again. "We're outside Nibelheim."

Tifa felt the colour drain from her face as Cloud pointed towards a set of all too familiar mountains, where a tiny village sat nestled at the base. They stood there utterly silent for several very long moments, none of them daring to speak, or say what they obviously had to do.

The wind shifted, blowing rain that was almost frozen at them, forcing Aeris to finally break the silence. "We don't have a choice," she told them. "I know neither of you like the idea of going there, but we need the shelter before this get any worse." Tifa didn't like the idea, but Cloud look ready to run in the other direction.

"Come on," Tifa called out to him, pulling Aeris forward. "It'll just be for one night and we can leave first thing in the morning. It had an inn and if there is something out here, I'd rather face it after resting up."

Finally and very reluctantly he nodded, stepping hesitantly after them, not daring to lead the way into the small village. It was all too soon for him that they were standing at the entrance of Nibelheim. The rain had returned, though immensely cold, it was no longer ice, only adding to their haste to reach the inn.

Tifa glanced around at the houses as they passed, the hair rising on the back of her neck as she realized they were all deserted. This place was a complete ghost town. Her eyes fell back across the square to the entrance, dread crept up her spine, something was definitely following them. She shivered, quickly looking away, as they entered the dark inn. The air was stale inside, leaving the impression the residence had been gone for a long while.

Aeris helped her over to a chair, which Tifa gratefully settled down in, relieved to have the break. "I'm going to have a look around," she told the other girl. "You going to be alright here?"

Tifa nodded her head gingerly, wincing slightly as it flared with pain. "Yeah," she answered after a moment. "I'm just going to heal myself up a bit with a materia." She pointed towards the lump she was certain that was visible on the side of her skull.

Aeris nodded once more before turning on her heel and disappearing through one of the doors, leaving Tifa and Cloud alone in the entranceway. The martial artist silently watched as he bolted the door shut, eyeing the storm with a wary look.

"How are you feeling?" he asked quietly after a moment, glancing over at her.

"Alright," she answered, "I'm not going to keel over, so there's no need to worry." She smiled at him.

"Right," he answered, shifting from one foot to the other. "I'm going to take a look upstairs, are you going to be okay by-"

"Yes, yes," she cut him off. "I'm a big girl Cloud, I'll be perfectly fine. Now away with you, shoo." She waved him away with a hand.

Cloud smiled, shaking his head as he crossed the entrance and made up the stairs to the second floor of the inn. The floorboards, though probably not even five years old yet, creaked loudly beneath his boots as he moved along.

He passed the first bedroom, intending to check it last. He made his way down the hall, only to pause as he reached a window overlooking the forest behind the inn. The old wood frame with its pealing paint looked the same, exactly like it had when he last stood there five years ago.

"The last place I saw him as a hero," he whispered softly, running his fingers across the rough sill. He knew it wasn't the same window, the last one had burned away to nothing, but staring right at it, that fact was so hard to remember. "Sephiroth… standing right here, before Jenova…" He quickly yanked his hand away and took a step back. "What am I thinking," he muttered, running a nervous hand through his spiky hair.

He turned sharply on his heels, marching steadfastly away from the window and the memory it had brought with it. "I hate this place."

He reached the bedroom at the far end of the hall, stepping inside to study the interior. To his relief the furniture was still intact, though a surprising amount of dust had gathered. There were sheets on the beds, and everything looked in good enough shape for them to stay the night. Satisfied he nodded to himself, before turning and heading back to the second bedroom located by the stairs, ignoring the window as he passed it.

He entered, slowing his pace as he glanced around at the furniture. He only meant to inspect it but for some reason found himself being drawn to the window overlooking the square of the small town.

He sighed heavily, closing his eyes as he leaned against the wall beside it. "Just one of those things you can't escape, right?" he whispered grimly. Rain taped against the glass beside him, the only thing that stopped the silence from being utterly complete. He shivered, blue eyes glowing eerily in the dark room, as he turned his head to stare out the side of the window.

His lips thinned, expression unreadable, as his gaze landed on the old decrepit manor on the edge of the town. The manor was all that was left of the Nibelheim of his youth. He wished it had burned with all the rest. He wanted to forget about it, he wanted to stop looking at it, but his eyes, but his memories, wouldn't let him.

That was now the only place left from five years ago, and one he wished that had vanished along with everything else in those flames. He struggled to look away but for some reason his eyes wouldn't let him, holding him captive once again.

A chill ran up his spine, stealing all the warmth from his body. "Five years…" He nearly jumped out of his skin at his own voice. He shook his head, finally tearing his eyes away from the building. "Five long years." His hand curled into a fist. He _hated_ this place. And yet, he couldn't even recall half of what had happened in the time he'd been trapped beneath the Manor. Or even anything about the friend who gotten him out…

"What kind of joke is that?" he whispered harshly to the empty room, but it gave him no answer. "I don't even remember his last name." He banged his fist against the glass.

_Trapped. Cold. Glass. Silence. Laughter. Zack. Trapped!_

He recoiled from the window like he'd been burned, heart pounding in his throat. "W-what?" he breathed, eyes wide as he backed away, almost tripping over a chair. He was breathing heavily, trembling head to foot. "Wh-what in the-"

"Cloud?"

He whirled sharply around and threw his hands up to defend himself, only to find it was Aeris standing in the doorway. "Aeris…" He let his arms drop once again to his sides.

"I heard you moving around up here," she answered, stepping further into the room. "Are you alright?" He hesitated, and glanced briefly towards the window, but he didn't reply. "Come on." She placed her hand lightly on his shoulder. "Sit down for a moment." He didn't protest as she guided him over to the bed. He sat down heavily, burying his face in his hands. The bed dipped beside him, as Aeris quietly sat down. Rain clattered against the windows and pattered on the roof of the inn. Strange how everything suddenly seemed so loud now, when only a few seconds ago, everything had been so quiet. "It must be hard," she said after a time, "being back in your hometown like this."

"It is," he whispered to his hands. "I _never_ wanted to come back here again, but…" He let his hands fall away and he glared at the dusty room, "…here I am."

"I'm sorry."

He blinked, turning towards her. "It's not your fault Aeris."

"Is it really?" she asked, head bowed. "If it wasn't for this mission, you wouldn't be here in this place. All of those people on the airship… they would still be alive. This mess is entirely my fau-"

"Don't say that!" snapped Cloud, startling her. "Jenova's the one to blame! She's the one controlling the Weapons! This isn't your fault at all!" She nodded her head silently. "Aeris." She looked up at him. "You have to believe that. Otherwise…" He paused, holding her gaze with his eyes. "This mission is going to fail. Blaming yourself for what happened will only make you second guess yourself, and you can't do that going up against Jenova."

She regarded him for a long time, before nodding her head. "You're right," she replied, a strange note of calm in her voice. "Of course you're right." She smiled, even though it didn't reach her eyes. She rose to her feet before he could speak. "I'm sorry, I meant to lend an ear to you, and in the end it was the other way around." She laughed lightly at that. "Tifa's downstairs trying to start a fire to cook something on. I'm going to go help her. Coming?"

Cloud shook his head. "I'll be down in a moment."

"Okay," she answered, turning to leave.

"Aeris." She looked back and caught the materia he tossed to her. "That should help Tifa with the fire." He smiled wanly. "Don't let it bother you anymore, okay?"

"Right." She nodded again, studying the fire materia. "I'll let you know when dinner is ready."

"Okay." She waved, leaving the room. He shook his head, sighing deeply as he listened to the stairs, creaking as Aeris made her way down to the first floor.

He glanced nervously back to the window, expression darkening. "I'm not going to lose out to you Jenova, mark my words. I refuse to be your puppet."

He rose to his feet and froze. A cold, familiar laughter rang in his ears. He never had a chance to cry out — a warning to the girls downstairs — in pain — for help — anything.

ooooooooooooooooooo

Well, well, well took me a bit longer then I was expecting to get this all nicely polished up and pretty looking, but then again I was also taking the time to try and get some of the typos and such out. Hopefully I got most of them out. Bit of a nothing chapter, but a fun cliffhanger at the end.

Thanks for the review aerisxtifa, I quite enjoyed reading it. I'm not sure if I would call Tifa and Aeris's conversation friendly, at least not at the end of it. Poor Cloud, he just can't catch a break. I remember the first time I played threw FF7 when I got to the part where Aeris dies I was just in completely and total shock. I kept going "no way…" through the entire scene afterwards.

Till next time!


	14. Ch14 Friends

Tifa glanced up as Aeris entered the kitchen, before looking away again

Tifa glanced up as Aeris entered the kitchen, before quickly looking away again. She absently pushed her wet hair from her eyes, staring at the vegetables she'd gotten out of a garden behind the inn. They were currently sitting in a bowl in the sink soaking, and in all truth weren't all that interesting to stare at. "How's he doing?" she asked suddenly, startling both herself and Aeris.

There was a slight pause before the flower girl answered. "All things considered, he's doing alright." She moved over to the old iron cooking stove. "He gave his fire materia to help out with things down here." Aeris knelt in front of the stove to get a better look at it. "Sadly, I don't know how to work this kind of stove."

Tifa looked up from the cutting board. "I can show you," she offered hesitantly. "Might be a handy skill to know."

Aeris shook her head, rising to her feet. "No thanks, I'll let you handle it." She moved over to the sink and handed Tifa the fire materia. "You're making a soup right?" Tifa simply nodded, accepting the materia from Aeris. "Well, I'll finish this up, while you get the fire going, okay?"

"Right," answered Tifa quietly. They worked in silence after that, backs turned towards each other. Once the martial artist had the fire going though, she couldn't stop herself from speaking. "Aeris…?"

The flower girl sighed, knowing what was about to come. "Yes?"

"This… it isn't right." Tifa leaned back, gazing at the small flames flickering inside the stove. "Can't you complain or something?"

"Tifa…"

"I'm just saying-"

"Tifa, drop it, please." Aeris's hands had curled into fists, tears burning in her eyes as she steadfastly kept her back turned to the other girl. "I don't want to talk about it."

"But," she began to protest. "Can't you just-"

"Life is never fair, end of story Tifa."

"That doesn't mean you roll over and don't do anything about it!"

"Please, can we not talk about this? Please Tifa?"

Tifa rose to her feet to face the back of the other girl. "What would you do if our positions were reversed, and I was the one who was going to die when everything was over?" The flower girl's shoulders hunched as her entire body tensed. "What would you do Aeris?"

"I don't know," her words were a faint whisper; a weak evasion.

"Would you just let me go?"

"I don't know," repeated Aeris, voice shaking.

"Then you'd let me die, without saying a word?"

"I don't know!" yelled Aeris, wheeling around. "Stop asking me! It's not going to happen! I'm the one who's going to die! And that can't be changed! Not by you! Not by me, or anyone! No matter how much I want to live-" She stopped dead, eyes wide as she realized with horror what she'd just admitted.

"Aeris, let me help," asked Tifa gently, reaching out a hand. "I'm sure there's something we can think of."

"We can't," answered Aeris, tears running down her face. She didn't move as Tifa placed her hand on the flower girl's shoulder. "We don't have time to think about this. Jenova's still on our trail, and the Weapon that shot us down could still be after us."

"That's still enough time to think of something."

"This has to be to be done _now_, and the closer we get to our goal the more Jenova will try to stop us," retorted Aeris. "The black and white materia have to be destroyed. It's the only way to make sure that something like this never happens again."

"And why do you have to-"

Aeris cut her off before Tifa could finish. "It's just- it's just the way things have to go and leave it at that."

"No! That's not what's going to happen," replied Tifa adamantly, "because we're not going to lose you again."

"Tifa, you… I appreciate that you're trying to help, but…" she placed her hand over Tifa's, squeezing it slightly before gently pushing it from her shoulder. "This is something I have to do."

"Why?" demanded Tifa. "Why the hell are you being so stubborn about this!" The flower girl was silent as she picked the pot, which the vegetables had been soaking in. She filled it with of water from the sink, before silently moving it to the stove. "Aeris!" Tifa called, but the other girl did not answer. She ground her teeth together, "What would you do if I told him?"

Aeris swung around so sharply it startled Tifa, but not as much as the fierce look in the other girl's eyes. "I would never forgive you."

Tifa felt her body go cold, but with it also came a calm. She hadn't wanted things to go this far, but she'd already made up her mind. "Then I guess, that's where we are." She was silent, studying the other girl's expression. "I'm your friend Aeris, and I always will be, even if you won't acknowledge me as such." She turned to leave the room, but Aeris grabbed hold of her arm.

"Leave Cloud out of this Tifa! Please!" there was a desperation in her voice, but Tifa didn't turn to face her.

"I made a promise, Aeris. I'm not going to keep him in the dark. I swore that to myself. Keeping something like this secret, it's going to do more harm then good." She took a breath before continuing. "I've already learned that one, and it's something I regret immensely. Don't put yourself in the same situation. Cloud will appreciate you telling him, don't leave him out of this."

Aeris's hand began to tremble, fingers tightening on Tifa's arm. "And watch as he finds some way to blame this all on himself? I- I can't do that, Tifa."

"Then you're going to be a coward, and not say anything. Just as it were if I was walking to my death."

"That's not fair, Tifa."

"Life isn't fair, Aeris, isn't that what you said?"

There was a long moment of silence before Aeris spoke. "Then you're going to tell him."

"Yes," replied Tifa without hesitation.

"Fine." The hand released her, surprising the martial artist. She could hear Aeris march farther into the kitchen, away from her. With a sigh Tifa once again made a move for the door, only to stop as Aeris called out to her. "What will you tell him after? What's going to give him hope?"

Tifa glanced over her shoulder, only to find Aeris was once again at the cutting board, chopping vegetables. "That we're going to find a way to save you."

"And with it, you're going to be giving Jenova another advantage." Tifa stiffened. "She's going to use him again, there's no doubt in that. And if we tell Cloud the truth, he's not going to let us leave him behind. We'll have to watch our fronts and our backs."

"I know that," replied Tifa calmly. "And I'm prepared for it. I will do everything in my power to keep the black materia away from Jenova."

"She won't play fair, she'll-"

"I'm already aware of that, and so is Cloud. I'll guard the black materia with my life, I promise you that Aeris." She smiled weakly, though the determination in her eyes could not be doubted. "Even though we're not going to be friends anymore, are we." It was more of a statement than a question at this point.

"No, we're not."

"I thought as much," whispered Tifa, turning away.

"Tifa." The martial artist paused again. "When things come down to it, and there are no other options, are you going to give me the black materia willingly?"

Tifa was silent for a long moment, thinking the question over before finally replying truthfully. "I don't know." And without another backwards glance, she walked out of the room.

ooooooooooooooooooo

I have to admit, I actually feel guilty about how short this chapter is. But then, on the other hand, that scene was just a darn nuisance to write. So it sort of levels out, maybe, possibly…. I'll probably make up for it in the next chapter, also reveal what Cloud's been up to.

Big thanks to those who reviewed!

**Aerisxtifa: **Why thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. In all honesty I forget sometimes how hostile other authors make Aeris and Tifa to each other. Their personalities really aren't the clashing type, which made this scene a little bizarre and tricky to write. I'm glad I was able to capture some good emotion with the last chapter. Nibelheim is such a creepy place, I remember being completely freaked out by the town the first time I played through FF7. Those are some interesting points about Tifa, I forgot that she was the mayor's daughter. Boy they've: Tifa, Aeris and Cloud all had it rough and there's still more to come. (evil laughter) Thanks for the review, and I hope you enjoyed the newest chapter.

**Winter's Soul: **Thank you very much for the review. I hope you enjoyed the newest chapter!

Anyway, till next time!


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